It's not unusual to think that the atmosphere can handle a little pollution. Case in point: all the people in the country who burn leaves and other yard debris.
We learned a long time ago of the dangers of large-scale air pollution, yet we still let it happen. Air pollution scientist Gary Fuller writes of the dangers of pollution, and the history of our knowledge of it, in the book The Invisible Killer: The Rising Global Threat of Air Pollution--and How We Can Fight Back.
He argues that polluters must pay the full costs of the harm they do. Listen for the full range of the author's arguments.