Finally! One reason I get so irritated by all the attention paid to “global climate change” and the endless and very, very expensive (and carbon-generating) meetings about carbon dioxide emissions is that it has totally eclipsed issues of other pollutants and what can be done to cut their release.

People can argue all day about carbon dioxide, but nobody can argue that mercury and arsenic are normal or (snort) beneficial components in the atmosphere.

And until the EU stops importing the vast majority of their soybeans from South America, slash and burn in the Amazon won’t stop, which is an enormous problem. But those S. American soybeans are cheaper than N. American, so … say goodbye to more and more rainforest every year.

But we can slash release of mercury, arsenic, lead, sulfur, and nitrogen pollutants with currently available technology. So let’s focus on that, and invest whatever money is budgeted for the next UN climate change confab into doing that. It’s equally important, and not controversial.