Word: layered
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Currently the most pressing and complex environmental problem is the greenhouse effect. The industrial age has been fueled by the burning of coal, wood and oil, which spews wastes -- most notably carbon dioxide (CO2) -- into the sky. This thickens the layer of atmospheric gases that traps heat from the sun and keep the earth warm. This greenhouse effect is expected to bring about more change more quickly than any other climatic event in the earth's history. Scientists warn that the changes cannot be stopped, though they can be slowed. But the time is short. Says Robert Dickinson, a senior...
After more than a dozen years of rising concern and controversy, governments are finally taking steps to protect the earth's delicate ozone layer. Last week it was the U.S.'s turn. In line with an international accord drafted last September and signed by 37 nations, the Environmental Protection Agency ordered production limits on chemicals that are depleting the ozone in the upper atmosphere. Decreased levels of ozone, scientists have warned, would allow more ultraviolet radiation to reach the earth's surface and increase the incidence of skin cancer and other diseases. Under the new ruling, U.S. producers of halon...
...worry: reports of inexplicable fish kills, warnings against eating shellfish, tales of lakes and forests dying from acid rain. Who could forget that up to 12% of all U.S. houses suffer unsafe radon exposure? That by sending up chlorofluorocarbons used in coolants, man is still destroying the ozone layer that protects against ultraviolet rays...
...particularly in stagnant waters. The exact reasons for these spurts of algal growth are unknown. They can be triggered, for example, by extended periods of sunny weather following heavy rains. Scientists believe algal growth is speeded up by the runoff of agricultural fertilizers. The burgeoning algae form a dense layer of vegetation that displaces other plants. As the algae die and decay, they sap enormous amounts of oxygen from the water, asphyxiating fish and other organisms...
Glass's music adds the final layer to this psychodrama, and he responds with one of his most daring scores. From the arresting opening chords that symbolize the lurking spacemen -- an alien harmonic system that makes sense to them but not us -- to the striking stretch of C-major that underpins poor M.'s longings for a girlfriend, this primal scream of angst surges and soars on an electric current of inspiration...