A lot of millennial and Gen X kids left school believing that the earth will be unsurvivable within mere decades because human activity is destroying the planet.
I grew up with fears about the depleting ozone layer, acid rain, deforestation, mass extinctions, even warnings of an ice age, because humans were putting too many aerosols in the atmosphere and it was reflecting out heat.
My first job out of school was a researcher for the Fraser Institute, where my project was to look at environmental indicators for Canada and the U.S. and see if we really were destroying the planet. Would it surprise you to know that we’re not?
In an update on part of that study, Ross McKitrick, professor of economics at the University of Guelph, looked at the latest data on air pollution.
On every measure – sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, ground level ozone, carbon monoxide and particulates – Canada has seen a dramatic reduction in national ambient pollution levels and found that instances of local problems are either rare or non-existent.
Breathe easy this Earth Day – Canada is doing just fine.
My full interview with McKitrick is below: