miasma

word of the day:

mi·as·ma (m-zm, m-)

n. pl. mi·as·mas or mi·as·ma·ta (-m-t)

1. A noxious atmosphere or influence: "The family affection, the family expectations, seemed to permeate the atmosphere . . . like a coiling miasma"(Louis Auchincloss).

2.

a. A poisonous atmosphere formerly thought to rise from swamps and putrid matter and cause disease.

b. A thick vaporous atmosphere or emanation: wreathed in a miasma of cigarette smoke.

In other words, Thoreau's woods, Mark Twain's rivers, and Melville's oceans are under attack by the rising miasma of pollution on our beautiful earth.

Check this out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLrVCI4N67M&feature=player_embedded

What you can do:

-Reduce your plastic waste
-Reuse
-Recycle
-Do not litter
-Participate in beach clean ups, riverbed/runoff clean ups, drainage clean ups, etc.