Thus the Financial Times today. This bit of wisdom comes from Britain’s Met Office, of all places. According to the article: “Cleaning up air pollution from factories in North America and Europe could have helped to cause more disastrous hurricanes in the US in recent years, new research suggests.” The article does not exactly suggest that pollution is actually good for you, but there is a clear message that environmental protection is a mixed blessing. Now that environmental programs of all sorts are on their hind legs on account of the global economic crisis, Britain’s Met Office is helping them to their sorry end. Of course, there is not a word in the article about the world before industrial pollution. It must have been a horrible place. Hurricanes in the US must have been absolutely horrendous back then.