This Day in History: 1966-08-31

Air pollution from trees?
On this day in 1966, botanist Frits W. Went, an expert on the effects of air pollution, spoke at a bio-meteorological conference at Rutgers University to point out that turpines and esters from pine forests created a “blue haze.” The emissions could be considered pollution, Went said, in an apparent attempt at humor. Fifteen years later, presidential candidate Ronald Reagan, picking up on the theme, said “Trees cause more pollution than automobiles do.” But where Prof. Went was illustrating a point about biological competition and tree chemistry, Reagan misinterpreted the information as referring to overall pollution, and opened himself up to heavy political criticism. The NASA Earth Observatory has an article on the complex chemical interactions between automotive pollution and forest chemistry.  See: “Killer Trees? Not Exactly,” Sept. 1, 2013.