I think i'll pass on a ticket to MN... already seen it, for the most part.
You live in the midwest... temps are already pretty extreme, because its a mid-contenental climate. When extreme temps hit a mediterrainian climate like here in California, it's quite drastic, and rare - and in the last 100 years has become less and less rare.
Yes, he's kinda my dad, but still - my father has a Phd. in Meteorology, and has been an emissions tester for 25 years (testing the shit that comes out of any powerplant or factory smokestack that hires him out to do so - including many natural gas fired power stations in your home state of Minnesota, and many more in next door Wisconsin) he specializes in testing natural gas plants, and has been contracted out to help GE build a more efficient process of burning natgas, as well as the testing equipment to test said plants more efficiently.
That said, he's not a bad source on the subject, having extensive knowledge of the atmosphere, AND its reaction to the tonnes of substances put in the air by powerplants, refinaries, factories, and other industries accross the country, and the world.
when even Natural Gas, which pollutes 30% less CO2 emissions than petroleum power stations, and 45% less than coal fired stations (which account for 50% or so of this nation's power generation), pollutes as much as it does already. It contributes HEAVILY to the emissions percentage. It's incredibly potent as a greenhouse gas already (moreso that CO2 even), and due to Russia and Nigeria not burning it off post-oil production, as well as the extensive agricultural production of natgas around the world (mostly due to cow farts as funny as that is), it's the fastest growing greenhouse gas, and its contribution to emissions is projected to keep growing faster, as when its drilled out of the earth, the proccess of doing this emits CO2 into the atmosphere as well.
so, when even when what's known as the "cleanest" fossil fuel we have available is actually a huge pollutant of greenhouse gases, you couple that with the sulphuric gases released in the firing of coal, and petroleum, and you realize how much just the US is letting into the air with fossil fuel power stations alone... not to mention all the rubbish being put up there by other industries...
Whether you believe in global climate change or not, I'd love for someone to find a positive way, shape, or form that substances such as Formaldehyde or Hydrogen Sulfide should be spewed into the air... and how toxic shit like that doesnt cause health risks around the world on its own.
