Good-bye Fresh Mountain Air

As you are probably aware, two months ago I moved to Central Virginia. I live about 10 miles to Skyline Drive, a winding road that meanders along the top of the Blue Ridge Mountains providing spectacular views of the surrounding countryside. There are also alot of hiking trails, which make up parts of the Appalachian trail.

Yesterday my boyfriend and I took Skyline Drive for a scenic route to a nearby city called Staunton to see 'A Scanner Darkly". I was horrified by the lack of visibility, and upon further research found out that the reason for this lack of visibility is air pollution.

What's all that hazy stuff? It's actually carbon monoxide or whatever it is that is expelled from coal-burning energy plants from as far away as Pittsburgh, PA and Ohio. That's right, factory pollution doesn't always effect the immediate city from which it is expelled.... in many cases it travels many miles away to nature areas and wildlife reserves.

I first rode on skyline drive in 1999 and I must say that the pollution has gotten ALOT worse since then. I don't even know if these pictures are really even doing it justice. It was just horrible, it made me cry and made me really afraid for the future. I could barely see but a few miles into the distance. It was pathetic.

I know that I am just as much to blame as the next person.... for I use electricity just like everyone else. I feel really guilty about it, I really wish there was something I could do right now to stop the pollution. All I can think to do is save up for some solar panels for my house and maybe a windmills so I can get off of the electricty grid and stop contributing to the pollution.

I just wanted to post these pictures so some of you can see what the pollution from city factories is doing to our natural reserve areas. You might have already know this but whatever.... I thought it deserved being repeated.