Real pollution

In response to "Global warming issue is overblown" (Oct. 12)although some scientists dispute the evidence that human activity is leading to global climate change (also called "global warming"), all confirm the fact that human activity causes pollution of the air, water and soil on a global scale.

The air pollutants released from factories in Ohio end up as acid rain over New England, killing the forests. If 2 billion people in China and India fail to regulate the emissions from the automobiles they all hope to buy, we will all be gasping for air. When large mining or animal operations allow waste to run into the rivers and topsoil, iends up in our oceans, or, recently, in our spinach. Polluting emissions, not juscarbon dioxide and ozone, need to be regulated to clean our airOzone damages human cells and may lead to lung damage. The air quality in the Los Angeles Basin was called the worst it's been in 10 years this September.

The "tragedy" would be to ignore the pollution that toxic emissions and human carelessness causes to our environment, not in taking a cautious approach. Controlling emissions won't hurt anyone-not controlling them will make our world very unpleasant indeed. Laura Peters Calabasas