Word: sprayed
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...Then in 1928 a group of chemists at General Motors invented a nontoxic, inert gas (meaning that it does not easily react with other substances) that was first used as a coolant in refrigerators. By the 1960s, manufacturers were using similar compounds, generically called chlorofluorocarbons, as propellants in aerosol sprays. As industrial chemicals, they were ideal. "The propellants had to be inert," says Chemist Ralph Cicerone, of the National Center for Atmospheric Research. "You didn't want the spray in a can labeled 'blue paint' to come out red. Since then the growth of CFCs has been fabulous, and they...
...Rowland and Molina announced their conclusion: CFCs were weakening the ozone layer enough to cause a marked increase in skin cancers, perhaps enough to perturb the planet's climate by rejuggling the stratosphere's temperature profile. In 1978 the U.S. banned their use in spray cans. "People assumed the problem had been solved," recalls Rowland. But the Europeans continued to use CFCs in aerosol cans; other uses of CFCs began to increase worldwide. Says Rowland: "All along, critics complained that ozone depletion was not based on real atmospheric measurements -- until, that is, the ozone hole appeared...
Right in front of my eyes was a huge glob of illegally dumped waste. The foamy brown scum floated slowly into shore. As it enveloped the shore break, the water would streak brown in the air, crash down in a spray of yellowish-white, and then disappear into the sand. Wave after wave of scum vanished in this fashion, while little children splashed in the waves. New Jerseyites were literally swimming in their own feces...
...hottest items is a $2 button of John Paul sporting a Detroit Tigers cap with the caption BLESS YOU BOYS. The prize for the most spectacularly tasteless souvenir goes to a Detroit firm that is marketing a $55, 30-in.-high aluminum Pope-shaped lawn sprinkler, called Let Us Spray. Not everyone is afflicted with the commercial bug. Some ticket brokers thought scalping for papal rallies would be a bit much. "Frankly, I think it's sacrilegious," said Rick Kline, of Los Angeles' Front Row Center Ticket Service...
...sand must somehow be trapped, much as a snow fence traps drifting snow. That something is dune grass. After the dunes form, the roots anchor the sand in place. "Dune grass is pretty hardy stuff," explains Stephen Leatherman, a University of Maryland coastal-erosion expert. "It can take salt spray and high winds. But it just never evolved to take heavy pedestrian traffic or dune buggies." Since the plants depend on chlorophyll in their green leafy parts to convert sunlight into food, he says, and since there is only so much food reserve in the roots, "a couple of weekends...