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Huge dust cloud threatens Asia
Independent, UK ^ | 26 January 2003 | Geoffrey Lean

Posted on 01/26/2003 4:21:31 PM PST by neutrino

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To: neutrino
Between 1994 and 1999, the country's Environmental Protection Agency reports, the Gobi Desert expanded....

What? They have an EPA? And it's run by Communists?

Our countries have so much in common!

21 posted on 01/26/2003 5:56:19 PM PST by Republic If You Can Keep It
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To: neutrino
I was thinking a little bit more along this line


22 posted on 01/26/2003 6:26:53 PM PST by freepersup (President Bush- Your leadership sustains us...)
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To: Dec31,1999
Regarding the cause of the Dust Bowl: The 1930s were also, at least in the U.S., the warmest decade in centuries. (see John-Daly.com for graphs, etc.) But in China it does not seem to be a heat-related problem, but one of dry weather and/or overcultivation relative to climate-set limits.
23 posted on 01/26/2003 6:29:48 PM PST by DWPittelli
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To: freepersup
Nope, nope, nope - that's just a little dust cloud! (Grin)
24 posted on 01/26/2003 7:12:53 PM PST by neutrino (Audaces fortuna juvat)
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To: neutrino
The institute blames "over-cultivation, overgrazing, over-cutting and over-pumping" for the escalating catastrophe.

Nope. It's due to Global Warming. Good thing we have the Kyoto Protocol to come to the rescue. Oh wait, China is exempted from that. Never mind.

25 posted on 01/26/2003 7:34:26 PM PST by altair
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To: Diana Rose
See my post #25.
26 posted on 01/26/2003 7:37:22 PM PST by altair
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To: neutrino; SerfsUp; BfloGuy; Kevin Curry; general_re; Diana Rose; ZOOKER; buffyt; twntaipan; ...

It is planting 26 million acres – a tenth of its grain-growing area – with trees. But many die because the soil is already too thin; and, say critics, too many are being planted around Beijing so as to try to "green" the city – and clean the air – before the 2008 Olympics.

Not to worry.  American technology comes to the rescue.

The Chinese government recently agreed to a plan that would place an American company at the forefront of resolving this problem.  As I understand it, this company has sole distribution rights for a tree that will not only grow in the most inhospitable conditions, but is also the fastest growing tree in the world.  The tree, known as the Megaflora Tree (www.megafloratree.com), was created by US scientists and is now in great demand around the world.  It grows to 65 feet in 7 years, though it can be harvested in as little as 18 months for pulp, to be used for biomass fuel or paper products.  Even the envirowackos can't complain too loud about cutting this tree down, either, since a new tree will grow back up out of the old stump and reach 45 feet in only 2 years.  Since it will grow in the desert and it grows so fast, it is the ideal tree to stop the encroachment of the Gobi Desert.  But, I bet it really irks the envirowackos to know that a US company is going to be making money by helping the environment.

 

27 posted on 03/05/2003 9:18:28 PM PST by Action-America (France, Germany & Russia are irrelevant has-beens. Ignore them.)
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To: Action-America
but soon it will have to buy massive amounts of grain on world markets

This is what interests me...

This is one of the ways we had the Soviets by their shall we say gonads. The soviets couldn't produce enough grain, causing starvation, the relied heavilly on our grain to sustain they're people, looks like we might get a similar hold on China before too long.

But than again, a destablilized China might not be a good thin.

28 posted on 03/05/2003 9:31:45 PM PST by Blue Scourge (If the Son has set you free, than you are Free indeed...)
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To: Action-America
Wow. That is amazing -- instant trees.

I wanna get me a few.

My Mom lives in a small upstate NYS village that was covered by a canopy of 100 year old Maples when I was a boy.

The old Maples are coming down now and, of course, new ones take 2 or 3 generations to grow to any appreciable size.

I'd love to plant a half-dozen of these babies in Ma's front yard which looks like the prairie now that the old trees have been cut down.

29 posted on 03/08/2003 4:13:36 PM PST by BfloGuy (The past is like a different country, they do things different there.)
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To: altair
Then it obviously must be due to American soccer moms in their SUVs
30 posted on 03/08/2003 4:18:51 PM PST by farmguy
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To: farmguy
That would be an interesting thing for them to attempt to prove. The winds across the Pacific blow east to west and it is California that bears the brunt of Chinese pollution.
31 posted on 03/08/2003 8:26:33 PM PST by altair
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To: Kevin Curry; Paulus Invictus
Viewed from Korea, these clouds make the entire sky in the direction of China (the Gobi Desert esp.) yellow. It's awesome to see.

I was in Korea during the spring of 1988 when one of these "yellow clouds" came through. I got very sick--fever, flat on my back, thought I was gonna die.

32 posted on 03/08/2003 8:34:30 PM PST by Charles Henrickson
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To: neutrino
Has France vetoed this yet?
33 posted on 03/08/2003 8:41:15 PM PST by this_ol_patriot
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To: buffyt
Our dust bowl in the 1930s was caused by all our gas guzzling SUVs right?

Yes, and second-hand cigarette smoke..

34 posted on 03/08/2003 8:59:15 PM PST by Yardstick
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To: BfloGuy
I'd love to plant a half-dozen of these babies in Ma's front yard which looks like the prairie now that the old trees have been cut down.

That might be rather difficult, since between the Chinese deal and a UN sustainable development project that they are involved in, every seedling that they can produce for the next 20 years is already taken.  Nice business though, if you can get in on it.  Imagine a business where everything that you can produce for 20 years is already pre-sold.

35 posted on 03/08/2003 9:04:02 PM PST by Action-America (France, Germany & Russia are irrelevant has-beens. Ignore them.)
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To: neutrino
Girl infanticide, govt.-forced abortions, persecution of Christians - do the thugs in Red China deserve some pain?
36 posted on 03/08/2003 9:08:35 PM PST by 185JHP ( Brisance. Puissance. Resolve.)
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To: Action-America
Have you seen one of these trees, by chance? I'm just wondering what they look like, whether they're pretty or not. I'm amazed at how quickly these trees grow, considering that they're hardwoods. Their website claims the wood is similar to ash. I looked at the pic of the grain, and sure enough -- it looks very similar to ash.
37 posted on 03/08/2003 9:13:29 PM PST by Yardstick
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To: neutrino
This could be a good way to improve our balance of payments with china. Canada got paid in gold for their wheat, the least we could do is get some of our dollars back.
38 posted on 03/08/2003 9:38:16 PM PST by nightdriver
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To: Yardstick
I'm just wondering what they look like, whether they're pretty or not.

There are a couple of good photos of both a single young tree and a plantation of some somewhat older trees on some of the sub-pages of their web site.  One of the plantation shots shows their purple blossoms.  I have seen other photos, since I am the person who built the web site for them, but those photos are not available on the net.

39 posted on 03/09/2003 10:34:30 PM PST by Action-America (France, Germany & Russia are irrelevant has-beens. Ignore them.)
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To: Charles Henrickson
Last year the Chinese cloud of doom came to our fair state and contaminated it big time. The sky turned yellow for three days and I worried at the time that included in those clouds were all kinds of contaminants, including bacteria and viruses. Seems I was correct, but it took a year to get confirmation.
40 posted on 03/10/2003 5:29:54 PM PST by Paulus Invictus (Coke make)
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