Originally posted by daacon 
Yep (thus the three headed goffers
) the plants are under much stricker regulations today which is a good thing for sure.
What have improved, at least in parts of the world, is the emissions of sulfate and soot from fossil fuel power plants (oil, coal, "natural" gas). Flare and leakage from the oil and gas production also contribute. The sulfate and soot emissions are in the form of aerosol particles. Emissions are regionally decreasing due to technical improvements that limit the aerosol emissions, and regulations that have moved us to use "cleaner" oil and coal (with lower sulfate levels). You may remember the whole accidification problem in Europe and the US. It was because of hugh sulfate aerosol emissions from coal and oil combustion, where the sulfur formed sulfuric acid in the rain. This problem is not gone, but is decreasing at least in Europe, where it started. Instead it increase in other regions of strong economical and industrial development, China for example.
But the emission of the most important man made green house gas, carbon dioxide (CO2), does not decrease just because the aerosol emissions regionally decrease. There are attempts to trap the CO2 somehow directly after the combustion, in order to decrease the amount that are emitted, but it is not something that are available outside experimental sites, and may never happen in large scale unless the power industry is forced to this.
Non the less, a very beautifull photo. Things does not have to be good to be beautifull, clearly.
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