研究已經(jīng)表明大范圍的空氣污染可以追溯到古希臘和羅馬時代。



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Ingemar Renberg

選材／校對／翻譯：hqj5715
If this Moment of Science were a fairy tale, it might begin, “Once upon a time there was air pollution.” Not because there is no longer air pollution, but because we usually think of industrial air pollution as being a fairly recent problem. Beginning perhaps with the industrial revolution. However, research has indicated that wide-spread industrial air pollution goes at least as far back as the ancient Greeks and Romans. Environmental scientist Ingemar Renberg sampled sediments from beneath nineteen Swedish lakes. He discovered that naturally occurring lead concentrations remained fairly constant for many centuries after the lakes were formed about 10,000 years ago. Then, about 2600 years ago the lead levels in the lakes began to rise. This was when the Greeks began minting silver coins. The silver for the coins was extracted from ore that also contained lead, and the smelting process released lead into the air. The ancient contamination recorded in the lake sediments increased again about 2000 years ago, when the Romans were smelting lead throughout south and central Europe, releasing even more lead into the air. As the Roman Empire declined so did the lead levels in the Swedish lakes.
如果這期的科學時刻是一個美麗的謊言，那么我們將以“曾經(jīng)的一段時間沒有空氣污染?！边@段話開始。這并不是指以后將不存在空氣污染，而是因為我們經(jīng)常認為工業(yè)空氣污染僅僅是最近一段時間的問題。 人們認為空氣污染也許是伴隨著工業(yè)革命而出現(xiàn)。但是，研究已經(jīng)表明大范圍的空氣污染可以追溯到古希臘和羅馬時代。 環(huán)境科學家Ingemar Renberg從瑞典19湖下采集沉淀物。他發(fā)現(xiàn)自然發(fā)生的凝集物在1萬年前這些湖形成之后可以完整的保持幾個世紀。 結(jié)果顯示，大約在2600年前鉛的水平在湖中開始上升。這一時期正是古希臘人開始鑄造銀幣的時候。用于制造錢幣的銀從同樣具有鉛的礦石中提取，在制造錢幣的過程中鉛被釋放到空氣當中。 大約在2000年前存在于湖中沉淀物中的古老污染物水平再一次的升高，那時羅馬人正通過南歐和中歐制煉鉛，進而釋放更多的鉛進入空氣。伴隨著羅馬帝國的沒落鉛的水平在瑞典湖中也隨之下降。 (個人能力有限，翻譯不好還請見諒！)