By While billions get wasted on global warming a real man made environmental disaster continues unabated:
China’s capital woke up to orange-tinted skies Saturday as the strongest sandstorm so far this year hit the country’s north, delaying some flights at Beijing’s airport and prompting a dust warning for Seoul.
The sky glowed and a thin dusting of sand covered Beijing, causing workers to muffle their faces in vast Tiananmen Square. The city’s weather bureau gave air quality a rare hazardous ranking.
Air quality is “very bad for the health,” China’s national weather bureau warned. It said people should cover their mouths when outside and keep doors and windows closed.
China’s expanding deserts now cover one-third of the country because of overgrazing, deforestation, urban sprawl and drought. The shifting sands have led to a sharp increase in sandstorms — the grit from which can travel as far as the western United States.
The Chinese Academy of Sciences has estimated that the number of sandstorms has jumped six-fold in the past 50 years to two dozen a year.
The latest sandstorm has also affected the regions of Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia and the provinces of Shanxi, Shaanxi and Hebei.
As the latest sandstorm moved southeast, South Korea’s national weather agency issued a yellow dust advisory for Seoul and other parts of the country.
Chun Youngsin, a researcher at the Korea Meteorological Administration, said the yellow dust was expected to hit the Korean peninsula beginning Saturday afternoon and it would be “the worst yellow dust” this year. [Associated Press]
3:45 am on March 20th, 2010 1
Did you know that China (poor country) and the US (rich country)are swapping places?
We'll see what the world will look like in few decades, when we're all still alive.
5:43 am on March 20th, 2010 2
That's not possible, Tom.
America will always be richer.
No matter how many US Dollars are stockpiled by China, America can always print more!
7:50 am on March 20th, 2010 3
You mean the people are swapping places. I have noticed a lot more Asians are moving to the rich country, but I have never been to China to see all the Americans you say are moving there.
9:45 am on March 20th, 2010 4
Interesting first post on a story about a weather phenomenon.
9:45 am on March 20th, 2010 5
The yellow dust is just one of the prices China is paying for allowing rampant economic expansion without planning for it. It's awful that the rest of us have to suffer for it, too. The yellow dust storm in Korea yesterday (March 20) was terrible.
9:48 am on March 20th, 2010 6
Anyway, on topic:
Was that what the weird weather was yesterday here in Seoul? – no wonder my eyes were watering. Looked like the apocalypse or something.
12:18 pm on March 20th, 2010 7
Looks like I flew out of Seoul just in time! I left the evening of the 19th to head back to the states for a couple of months.
BTW: Any good links to various types of Visas that are available for Korea? Have lots of questions and don't know where to start. Thanks.
12:50 pm on March 20th, 2010 8
"China’s expanding deserts now cover one-third of the country because of overgrazing, deforestation, urban sprawl and drought. "
Yup, China really needed to spend 70 billion dollars to host the Olympic Games.
12:07 am on March 21st, 2010 9
I hate to spoil the fun for the enviro whackos (they wrecked their country!), but we had the yellow dust in Korea back in 1977.
2:58 am on March 21st, 2010 10
The yellow dust is a natural phenomenon that happens every spring when sand from the Gobi desert is blown over the Korean peninsula. However, due to the environmental devastation in China the storms are getting worse and worse and lots of industrial waste dumped in the desert is also now mixed with the sand. The storms are beginning now even in December and running into June.
5:14 pm on March 21st, 2010 11
Climate change, global warming, and yellow dust are part of the same problem. Solve one solve them all….
5:34 pm on March 21st, 2010 12
"Climate change, global warming, and yellow dust are part of the same problem. Solve one solve them all…."
Uh-huh.
"The first known record of an Asian Dust event in Korea was in 174 AD during the Silla Dynasty. The dust was known as "Uto (雨土)", meaning 'Raining Sands', and was believed at the time to be the result of an angry god sending down dust instead of rain or snow."
I guess it was because all 200 million people on the earth at that time were driving SUVs.
The Global Warmers try their best to tie anything bad, from yellow dust to earthquakes, into the peril of global warming.
1:20 pm on March 25th, 2010 13
During my 59 years on Earth, err I mean, Mother Gaia, I have been promised that this year is the end of world–really!
It started with the silent spring in the late 50s early 60s. All the birdies were going to die–really!
Then it was global ice age in the 70s. Yes, people, we're going to freeze to death in ice and snow (If we didn't run out oil first). The science was proven–really! .
Then in the 80s it was nuclear winter–really!
Then in the 90s it was global warming–really!
Then in the 00s it was global warming–really!
So, now I hear yellow dust beyond anything ever seen by man nor beast now rains down on Korea–really!
And, yet tomorrow the world will be there when I wake up and I'll still have to go to my job and pay the bills. If the ecological apocalypse is coming it's sure taken a slow bus to get here.
8:49 pm on May 19th, 2010 14
This stuff is real. It is covering my car right now. I'm hiding inside because it's giving me asthma that I have never had before while living in the United States. I feel like I'm getting pnuemonia. I want to go home.
8:56 pm on May 19th, 2010 15
What's covering your car may be pollen.
2:04 am on May 20th, 2010 16
JoeC is absolutely right.