What greenhouse gas emissions would look like
ABC News has done something neat: their graphics department teamed up with FLIR – a company that makes an infra-red camera, to produce images of greenhouse gases. Normally invisible to the human eye, greenhouse gases trap infra-red radiation (a.k.a. heat). That’s the source of their name – and, incidentally, global warming – and the reason that the infra-red camera can ‘see’ things like tailpipe exhaust fumes and power plant emissions.
Quick disclaimer: These are not raw infra-red images. ABC graphics put their touch on them. So they are “artist’s impressions.”
The question that apparently prompted this project was whether or not the public would be more outraged and the government more willing to regulate greenhouse gases if we could see them with our own eyes. Interesting, if completely hypothetical, question.
