FRESNO, Calif. - An astonishing fact is buried in dirty-air data: Trees and plants in California's San Joaquin Valley produce far more hydrocarbons than vehicles do.
In the summer, crops, trees, lawns and the rest of nature release 360 tons daily of the key smog component.
That's four times the hydrocarbons than from cars and trucks.
Hydrocarbons combine with other gases in vehicle exhaust to form the San Joaquin Valley's ozone, considered one of the nation's worst air problems.
For now, nobody is advising people to chop down their trees to save the air.
But scientists do say people should plant trees such as the Modesto ash, oleander and Bradford pear, which don't emit a lot of hydrocarbons, and avoid the high-emitting trees - the sycamore, eucalpytus, weeping willow and cottonwood, they say.
It's Bush's fault!!!
In the summer, crops, trees, lawns and the rest of nature release 360 tons daily of the key smog component.
That's four times the hydrocarbons than from cars and trucks.
Hydrocarbons combine with other gases in vehicle exhaust to form the San Joaquin Valley's ozone, considered one of the nation's worst air problems.
For now, nobody is advising people to chop down their trees to save the air.
But scientists do say people should plant trees such as the Modesto ash, oleander and Bradford pear, which don't emit a lot of hydrocarbons, and avoid the high-emitting trees - the sycamore, eucalpytus, weeping willow and cottonwood, they say.
It's Bush's fault!!!
