Posted on 06/24/2010 9:40:20 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
BEIJING (AFP) – A floating expanse of green algae floating off China's eastern seaboard is growing and spreading further along the coast, state-run media has reported.
The algae bloom has expanded by about 50 percent since it was first reported by state media earlier in the week to 320 square kilometres (120 square miles), or about four times the size of Hong Kong island, Xinhua news agency said.
The algae island was previously situated several kilometres off the coast of Shandong province but has expanded southwards to waters off neighbouring Jiangsu, it said in a dispatch late Wednesday.
Algae blooms are typically caused by pollution in China and suck up huge amounts of oxygen needed by marine wildlife to survive and leave a foul stench when they wash up on beaches.
The report, which quoted the State Oceanic Administration, gave no indication how close the algae bloom was to the coast or whether it was moving towards the shore.
Earlier in the week Xinhua said it was drifting toward Shandong, spurring the local branch of the State Oceanic Administration, which monitors marine conditions, to dispatch vessels in a bid to clear the algae.
It had warned that the bloom could threaten marine life and the region's tourism industry.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
That's an often repeated lie. Algae emit O2. It's bacteria eating the unharvested algae that cause CO2 and oxygen depletion, as well as most methane gas.
What's the difference? When you have algae blooms, the stuff dies and suffocates the water and stinks. Just because its the death of it that causes the bacterial problems doesn't mean algae blooms aren't a serious problem.
To me it just evidences the HUGE environmental problems socialist countries cause....FAR MORE than the people in any free capitalist country would put up with....
China isn't much of a socialist country. They don't even have a social security system for retirement. It's the tradition in China that sons take care of their parents in retirement, and daughters take care of their husband's parents, hence the strong preference for baby boys. If you have a baby girl in China you'd better make plans to emigrate to the USA for free retirement.
I suppose you could argue the BP oil disaster was caused by socialist countries: ours and formerly-Great Britain.
As China's wealth grows you'll see growing envy and leftism from within. The leftists will use environmentalism to fight the growing prosperity. Richer countries can afford the high costs of environmentalism.
Algae is not just bacteria food, it's fish food. Tow the algae out to sea where the fish are and can eat it, and you'll have more fish that people can eat. This is a bacteria problem, or a fish food distribution problem, but algae shouldn't be demonized. Algae are probably going to be the future petroleum replacement, allowing capitalism to continue to flourish. For that reason the leftist MSM is already gearing up to always mention algae in the worst possible light.
They will skim it, dry it and put it in baby food, or dog food.
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