Studies are demonstrating that air pollution is not being regulated effectively and that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) laws for air pollution are outdated and unaccommodating, said Bill Easterling, professor of geography and Penn State Institutes of the Environment director. Easterling said a research department in the School of Forest Resources at Penn State studies the effectiveness of the Clean Air Act on aquatic ecosystems.

"Penn State has been one of the national players in monitoring acid rain and figuring out how much acidic deposition is occurring downwind of industrial plants," he said. "There has actually been evidence that shows a close correlation between the Clean Air Act legislation and the decrease in impact of acid rain on the environment."

New evidence suggests air pollution is cooling the outer layers of the Earth's atmosphere.

Easterling said the cooling of the upper atmosphere is just one of the results of the greenhouse effect. As people continue to populate the planet and use resources, carbon dioxide levels continue to increase in the atmosphere. The burning of fossil fuels is one of the biggest causes of the carbon dioxide escalation.

"We have increased the amount of atmospheric carbon dioxide and other gases that interact with the heat balance," Easterling said. "This is what is creating a blanket that literally keeps more of the sun's energy down in the lower atmosphere. The cooling of the outer layers of the atmosphere is a physical response to the increase in greenhouse gases," he said.

How is the atmosphere cooling?

Easterling said when fossil fuel burns to carbon dioxide, the gases distribute themselves throughout the vertical column of the atmosphere.

"When they're down low, we know that those gases are basically going to warm up the atmosphere at the same time the high atmosphere has to cool down, because the heat energy from the sun is being trapped in the lower atmosphere," Easterling said. The sun's energy is literally getting trapped more and more in lower levels of the Earth's atmosphere. The energy in the lower atmosphere results in the upper atmosphere getting colder and denser.

In other words, when the greenhouse gases get to the stratosphere, air gets colder and denser in upper levels. This exchange can account for the increase in temperature throughout the years as a result of the increasing amounts of trapped energy in the lower levels of the atmosphere.

"We know that the temperature of the Earth is increasing because the temperature has actually increased half of a degree in the past 100 years," Easterling said.

Easterling said that little is being done to revise and regulate pollution laws. "I actually reviewed a report on the administration approach to manage global warming," he said. "A group of acclaimed scientists have complained to the Bush administration about their approach to responding to the threat of global warming."

"The government put together a plan on how to proceed with the threats of global warming and there have been significant cutbacks on research and pressure placed on the EPA. The government has actually asked the EPA to make changes in their scientific conclusions to favor the administration's perspective," Easterling said.

"We feel like we're swimming against the current of the White House. The White House doesn't seem to want to know what problems exist relating to the environment. It's very disturbing," he said.

Even the regulated community understands the need for environmental protection. They just want to be able to understand the regulations and comply with the least amount of difficulty possible.

"From the perspective of the regulated community, most would say that the regulations are too complex, are hard to comply with and should be simplified," said Warren Weaver, Pennsylvania Technical Assistance Program senior technical specialist. Weaver believes part of the problem is that it is often difficult for individuals to recycle and help the environment. "Within the last two years, I have been getting more and more requests from companies about regulatory issues that have been raised by the PA Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) where the inspector misinterpreted the regulations and consequently has requested permit applications or information that is not warranted," he said. "I was at a meeting where I learned of a company that was told by their DEP inspector that they needed to be 'certified' to recycle cardboard. Requiring certification would be a disincentive to recycling, the opposite of what the regulators intend," Weaver said.