[speaker001:] okay yes we do have pollution in Houston and it
[speaker002:] how bad is it do you have smog like they do in California
[speaker001:] well it it some I think it depends on uh you know what the how the cloud cover and like right now it's uh it's kind of overcast you know just it's hot and the sun is trying tries to shine through but it it's it's holding in this this pollution and I I think so and uh we have uh
[speaker002:] uh-huh hm depends on whether you have some sort of temperature inversion I take yeah
[speaker001:] Pasadena Texas which is sort of between here and you know heading toward Galveston I mean it's still part it's part of the Houston metropolitan
[speaker002:] um-hum um-hum what do you think is your primary cause of it
[speaker001:] well I think it's industry and I think it's cars I
[speaker002:] you do you really think cars contribute a lot now that they've taken lead out of gas
[speaker001:] I don't I well maybe not but it it sure it sure seems you know it I I know that when I'm when I'm behind a car and uh sometimes uh I can really smell especially diesel and things like that you know comes right in
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] to my air conditioner and you know my head and my face I'm so stopped up right now I don't know if it's uh if it's partly from what's blooming you know right now pollen and stuff like that that's part of it but um
[speaker002:] hm my goodness um-hum I think a lot of it's industrial I also think uh that uh there is a certain amount that comes from automobiles but it's mostly from older automobiles I don't think the newer automobiles are as polluting uh frankly I think that uh
[speaker001:] um-hum
[speaker002:] I think that um uh if uh I I I heard a story a while back something effect that if they could just pay to get twenty percent or take all the cars off of the road that have been uh manufactured say before nineteen seventy five that they could cut the automobile pollution by over fifty percent just by getting rid of those cars that are still left remaining
[speaker001:] um-hum you mean uh fifty percent pollution total from that comes from
[speaker002:] yeah from from cars that is not from not total but just from cars okay
[speaker001:] oh uh-huh
[speaker002:] so that I think would be a tremendous help and I happen to drive an old model car because it's very economical and it just keeps getting uh gives me good service and I don't have an incentive to get rid of it long as it keeps running good and not costing me any money on the other hand I know it's a much more polluter than any of the newer model cars I have
[speaker001:] um-hum um-hum
[speaker002:] but I don't have any incentive to get out of it until it dies and uh that may be part of the problem also
[speaker001:] right well do y'all have pollution in your country part of the country uh from industry
[speaker002:] yeah yeah yeah oh uh yeah it's it's uh pretty heavy up here I think but I think it's mostly industrial is what I really uh believe is the the main problem and and uh and uh uh people uh I don't think are paying as close attention to it in this area as they frankly should I I we we seem to have a high uh cancer rate up here in Maryland
[speaker001:] really like what kind any particular kind or just all kinds
[speaker002:] yeah and uh well uh for instance breast cancer seems to be pretty rampant and uh I think of course prostrate cancer's sort of bad for everybody but uh this this this state was like uh second my wife's a registered nurse and I think this state was like second this year from the top in terms of uh cancer rate for just all kinds and I can't help but believe that's not partially caused from pollution I just don't know exactly what it necessarily is but I just can't believe this now we have a lot of pollution being caused by chlorofluorocarbons uh fluorocarbons
[speaker001:] hum
[speaker002:] which is the like freon twelve and freon twenty two they use freon twenty two in air conditioning systems in houses and the like and heat pumps and they use freon twelve in car air conditioners and that's also what's causing our atmosphere to lose it's ozone layer
[speaker001:] um-hum um-hum
[speaker002:] and I can't help believe if it's sufficient enough to make the atmosphere lose it's ozone layer that it's not acting as a pollutant in our lungs also and having all kinds of effects and
[speaker001:] well what can we do about the the the the air conditioning problem
[speaker002:] well they're working now I know DuPont and Dow and several other chemical companies are working uh feverishly to try to come up with a substitute for fluorocarbons and whoever does is gonna make a a mint because if they ever come up with a reasonable
[speaker001:] um-hum
[speaker002:] working agent in place of fluorocarbons then uh
[speaker001:] is that also what's in uh hairspray aerosol
[speaker002:] well they used to be but they made them take it out of that
[speaker001:] even uh so so the aerosol is still aerosol but it doesn't have anything that's damaging
[speaker002:] right no they they they made passed a law and made them take fluorocarbons out of the aerosol containers
[speaker001:] um-hum well that's good
[speaker002:] and that was a move in the right direction we are doing some things to try to correct the problem but there are more things we could do and getting rid of old cars like I said is one way to help correct the problem uh uh just trying to I think be careful uh with the way you handle garbage I notice in this state I don't know if you're doing it in Texas yet or not but in this state we have special containers now we have to put all our cans and bottles and plastic pieces uh you know containers in yeah
[speaker001:] here they've just started started doing that it's it's you know you're not you don't have to but most you know I I know I am I save
[speaker002:] yeah well we are doing it pretty religiously in our group too but they uh in one of the counties here they're actually doing a trial program of having a trash police they have a lady that goes around like a meter maid and she spot checks people's trash and if they find a bottle or a can or anything like that in your trash they'll fine you fifty bucks I think the first time and two fifty the second time
[speaker001:] no kidding you really oh is that right well we need to do something we need to get serious about it
[speaker002:] yeah you right you got to give people incentives and surprisingly enough just handling of trash uh can cut pollution uh from uh uh from just throwing it in a dump or or or or whatever else they used to do with it maybe used to burn it they've stopped that up here too
[speaker001:] um-hum
[speaker002:] but that that will cut pollution too because you get a lot of out gassing from these things I think decaying and trying and trying to for instance cans and bottles they never go away at all
[speaker001:] um-hum
[speaker002:] well on on the other had I don't guess they're polluting but plastic containers and the like uh they may be ah I'm not sure of that
[speaker001:] how much does uh planting more trees and things like that help
[speaker002:] oh I think that's very important to do I I really think that uh trying to get along with your environment and help it out is a very very important thing and uh that can help to cut pollution I guess some I I don't know how much
[speaker001:] I have too um-hum
[speaker002:] trees actually act as filtering agents in terms of pulling various pollutants or chemicals out of the air I would hope that they would help some though that's for sure
[speaker001:] well I think uh it seems like there was something going on around around here that you know we have all these chemical plants and oil refineries and those kinds of things and that they burn off a lot of stuff and some of the stuff that they weren't supposed to do that
[speaker002:] um um-hum um-hum
[speaker001:] somebody found out you know like in the middle of the night they would go ahead and do it anyway I think they got caught but I wonder how much of that kind of stuff you know goes on
[speaker002:] oh good well that uh that I think may go on a lot and the primary reason I think it may go on a lot is just as you said somebody happened to stay up late night or something I don't think we have a adequate policing uh especially particularly on industry uh we have good policing at least in this state and and uh several of the surrounding states and probably yours too of car pollutants because we have to go down uh once a year here in Maryland and get our car's exhaust systems checked for emissions content
[speaker001:] well we have to uh we have to have a state inspection every year do y'all have that so which I I don't I would assume
[speaker002:] um-hum uh no we don't have a state inspection but anytime you sell a car or buy a car it has to be inspected in this state
[speaker001:] so I'm I'm assuming that you know they check they check everything for safety or
[speaker002:] I don't know uh it that's something that you'd have to just chec k with your authorities but in this state we have to uh pay eight dollars and a half and go to a an emission station once a year and get everyone of our cars checked that are have been made starting in nineteen seventy three
[speaker001:] but that's all they check for they don't check how good your if your tires are good enough or your brakes are good enough or
[speaker002:] no no we don't have inspections like that now I'm in Maryland in Virginia they check that every two years I think
[speaker001:] we do that every every year
[speaker002:] and I think that's a good idea too not not not that it necessarily has anything to do with cutting pollution necessarily necessarily but I think it's a good idea the emissions check though is required in Maryland and it's also required in Virginia uh a sister state to to this and that's that goes a long ways towards cutting pollutants
[speaker001:] well I'll have to check I'm not sure if if our state inspection every once a year has to do you know if they check the
[speaker002:] um-hum well if they don't I would imagine in time they'll get along with it they'll get around to it and if they don't then that's something I would certainly certainly uh uh suggest you'd be willing to uh um be for in terms of uh yeah yeah
[speaker001:] uh emissions oh I would I'm for anything that cleans up the air or the water or or or anything on that
[speaker002:] oh yeah I I agree now that's another area we hadn't even discussed and that is water pollution and various of the other types of uh of uh like food pollution I mean you you hardly ever hear hear anybody say anything about food pollution but I think there we have a pretty good handle on inspection of foods in this country so uh hopefully we're not ingesting too much in the way of uh pollutants in our food but water pollution uh I've worried uh especially the last few years about just how good the water supply we have in this country is for drinking and the like I know a lot more people are going to bottled water
[speaker001:] um-hum well and that's not necessarily the answer either because they found out that that's just comes out of somebody's tap so
[speaker002:] yeah tap yeah
[speaker001:] but a lot of these uh some of this well you know a lot of people have well water in fact in this area too and you know and uh
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] if you don't get it tested you don't necessarily know what your what your drinking on I know I know a lot of people you know have that and you know you have to wonder if that you know it could have an adverse effect on them too if they don't if they don't get it checked
[speaker002:] yeah yeah I'm absolutely for drinking water out of wells as long as you first of course have it checked because it seems uh when I was a kid growing up down south uh I used to go out in the country where my grandparents were and we had a well with one of those draws that I forget what you call those things and and that was some of the best tasting water I mean I can still to this day taste that water
[speaker001:] um-hum when we were when I was growing up I lived in Huntsville Alabama and their water supply came from uh
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] spring and it was like ice cold spring water and I guess parts of the the city still have you know get that but uh that was that was really wonderful it was really really good
[speaker002:] uh-huh huh oh I bet it was yeah the it once it's been filtered and if it's a deep enough well filtered through all the earth and everything I think that uh it depends of course where you are a good well though I think is very healthy