Pollution Below (1975)

e [Music] the end of Autumn and some fishermen Brave the pre-dawn coold to try their luck and skill on a Thanksgiving Day not so long ago Elsewhere on the same day kayak Champion Tom McKuen gets himself ready for the Olympic trials by taking on the challenge of an unfamiliar River [Music] Jacob Heath counts himself a lucky grandfather this [Music] Thanksgiving despite a recent heart attack he's recovered enough to drive the 100 miles from Canada so he can be with his daughters and their families this festive day separated across the mile these people will never meet yet on this day they will share a common Hazard each will have a close brush with Destiny some will escape it untouched others may not be so fortunate [Music] n [Music] Thanksgiving a time for families to warm in the glow of shared memories laugh together over familiar stories share their plans and hopes for the future there's little thought here of the world's problems little thought of pollution it's an exciting day for Jimmy Howard the first time his father has taken in [Applause] fishing a third grader Jimmy's been studying about pollution in school the subject will take on a much more direct and personal meaning for him in a few hours from now Tom mchan has kayaked the Rapids of many a stream and River he makes Whitewater kaying Look So Easy you almost forget about the skill involved he rarely gets overturned if he does he can go right on under and come up the other side hardly losing a stroke the special danger he faces today is not overturning but pollution pollution was always something we saw close up or not at all until the National Aeronautics and Space Administration gave us a global view from high above pictures the spacecraft send back to waiting scientists have greatly expanded our knowledge of pollution how much there is where it is what's causing it and how we can combat it a star performer among satellites landat every day snaps hundreds of electronic pictures it takes three images at a time in separate frequency bands when combined in special ways composits of these pH phot reveal startling new looks at the Earth the pictures roll out of the processing lab in a never-ending stream and provide Vital Information to researchers all over the United States and around the [Music] world aboard NASA's orbiting Workshop called Skylab a team of astronaut scientists Point their special cameras and instruments at the sun probing for insights into new energy [Music] sources but the vast array of sophisticated equipment is primarily focused on the earth to discover new ways of understanding some of our [Music] problems Tom McAn reminds us of the way things used to be a solitary figure on Waters that once were crowded with people on how many lakes and rivers have we lost the chance to enjoy Simple Pleasures our grandfathers knew [Music] 100 years ago Smoke Stacks were a proud symbol of industrial progress they meant jobs for the people products in the stores refu from a plant was a local problem disfiguring only one tiny bit of land water or air it seemed a small price to pay for more jobs higher salaries a rapidly improved standard of living scum in the river bought a chicken in the pot every Sunday a stench in the air but a car in the [Music] garage pollution grew around us slowly at first then more and more rapidly until One Day At Last we stepped out of our comfortable air conditioned television equipped homes and noticed that something had gone wrong with our once pretty World pollution was no longer a local [Music] problem out of the Rapids now and gliding gently with the currents Tom seems to have passed safely through the most challenging part of his afternoon Adventure yet in fact he's now exposed to a far greater danger than the Rapids here where the river pollution is at its most virulent overturning could bring ear infection dissenter [Music] hepatitis the truth about the river is nowhere so clearly revealed as in an NASA satellite photograph the most highly polluted areas show in light blue [Music] by adding artificial colors to different photo images of the same scene researchers have learned how to unlock a fantastic array of Earthly Secrets weather rang land ice and snow patterns of silt in a river a fairy land of unearthly colors packed with messages for the knowing Observer oil spills and algae blooms stream erosion and strip mining smoke clouds and smog a satellite photo taken on that Thanksgiving Day examining it later scientists would discover an event never before observed visible only from platform in space industrial plants along the shore of the lake smoke from the factories carried by the wind across the lake clouds storm clouds formed not by nature but artificially by the smoke and somewhere down there below those clouds Jacob Heath is on his way home and that's the community calendar for today here's an important change in our local weather forecast for counties east of the lake cloudy this afternoon turning much colder heavy snowfall likely to begin before sunset local officials say snow emergency plan 2 will be in effect for the metropolitan [Applause] area the afternoon is wearing on and Jimmy and his father have only one fish to show so far not much but enough to please a young assistant fisherman on his first time out hey on the show don't eat them fish we just going to they may be poison hey don't eat them fish they may be Poison Poison the fish may be poisoned men who have grown up fishing in these waters are stunned by the news to Jimmy and the other boys it's bewildering how could it have happened an artificial color photo from a NASA satellite reveals what is invisible to the naked eye offshore is a Dumping Ground for acid waste but one toxic load has been accidentally dumped much closer to the coastline now tides are carrying it toward the Shore alerted by the satellite information officials now know they must keep a close check on the threat to swimmers and fishermen [Music] Tom mccuan has not escaped the hazard that surrounded him he has brought his kayak safely through the White Water even though pollution Still Remains a constant threat in the pomac river even as it passes the historic shrines of Washington DC [Music] Jacob Heath tries to stay calm as he faces a storm caused by pollution never before had this been so directly observed on the basis of the satellite pictures the companies will be ordered to stop pollution from their Smoke Stacks in this way satellites are providing more accurate and reliable weather information by helping to stop inadvertent weather modification can satellites help point the way towards solving the problems of pollution besides revealing a portrait of the Earth Massa spacecraft have also been gazing outward toward the sun here is a vast inexhaustible source of energy if we could find ways practical ways to tap the sun's power we could end much of the pollution that comes from fossil fuels coal oil and gas this precious Planet this Earth our only home through careless decades we have solid it just in time the satellite now gives us a view of pollution impossible to get in any other way one day we will again swim in the pomac breathe clean air live in harmony with the land until then the satellites of NASA will be at work providing information to deal with the pollution below la [Music]