December 5th marked the anniversary of the Great Smog of London. It was the first time a highly populated, industrialized city began to experience the consequences of its own industrial evolution.

Growing up in NYC in the 60's, I remember times when our sky would turn gray for days until a storm would move in and blow the stagnant air out to sea. Of course, New York never recorded the same level of pollution as London, but we were close, so drastic measures had to be taken.

With neurological, respiratory, and other illnesses being attributed to the contamination of air and water, cities around the globe began to incorporate the use of scrubbers in their incinerator systems. The scrubbers were designed to clean the smoke before releasing it into the atmosphere, but they were far from perfect. Eventually, incinerators in apartment buildings were replaced with custom fabricated trash compactors created by one of my early companies at the request of Mayor John Lindsay. Fun fact: the first modern apartment house compactor we see around the globe today was designed and built by the St. Ann's Marketing Company, located on St. Ann's Avenue in the Bronx.

Ceasing the use of incinerators created two problems in particular which we're still contending with today. It created a demand for more space in our landfills and the raw garbage we replaced ashes with, provided an increased food source for rodents[remember the video of Ben dragging a slice of pizza down the steps?].

Additional progress was made with the phasing out of leaded gasoline at the gas pumps which began in the 1970's. Unleaded gas was eventually fully removed from gas pumps in the late 1990's. Today the ice caps are melting, ocean levels are rising and record temperatures are being recorded.

Many think it's nothing to worry about, that it's a political game, but what if they're wrong and we reach a point of no return?

I believe in science, as imperfect as it may be at times. I'll trust it over a talking head on TV 100% of the time.