Heavy Metal Detection Using an Unusual Sensor

How does Portland compare with Chernobyl?

That's so old school. Plants have been used for centuries if not longer as indicators for minerals and metals present in an area. http://technology.infomine.com/articles/1/1650/indicator-plants.geobotany/indicator.plants.aspx

Using simple plants as detector by analysing the metal uptake in the plant seems a reasonable easy way of doing it.

I wonder what way the wind blows from Mt. St. Helen? Wouldn't volcano vents be a source of heavy metals? And what, besides condensation would be responsible for heavy metals landing on the moss anyway?

It never ceases to amaze me how many alarmists there are over the elements isolated from one place or another. The big give away is that quantities are never mentioned. One part per billion is not a crisis for most substances.

Actually I fail to see the connection with tree moss, but I suspect folk up in Portland are connoisseurs of tree moss.

Why not just sample runoff water near the glass factory(ies), or test the soil or ground water? Is moss supposedly more sensitive to heavy metal airborne contamination by "breathing it in" like some sort of ultra-efficient filter? So how in heck are they supposed to color glass anyhow, without using the offending "metals".