Brown Clouds Over Asia Pose New Threat To Planet: Un

[jayjayjayjay]

Personally I think a bigger issue isn't the brown clouds, but dirty diesel, collectively called particulate matter (PM). Diesel particles are 0.1 (PM0.1) microns in size, just small enough so our lungs can't filter them out, and they collapse alveoli resulting in permanently reduces lung capacity. Not good. The bigger sizes get filtered out by our lungs easier, so are less of a threat, which is why gasoline engines are much less harmful than diesel. Also, Thailand and generally poor nations in Asia use cheap sulfuruous diesel, which can cause emissions to increase 100 times. Gases responsible for the brown cluod may be irritating to our lungs, but damage can be reversed. I don't think the diesel particles travel very far, I may be wrong, but it certainly seems far worse near traffic zones. I don't really know how far you must be away from traffic to minimize effects of PM0.1, I wish someone could answer this question! As far as brown clouds go, anyone who has flown into Los Angeles knows it a giant brown cloud, so brown you can't see the ground.

If China was to be brought under Californian EPA standards tomorrow, the country would be shut down for 15 yrs. It is a major concern about how much money they have made becomming the manufacturing center of the universe, but at what cost. They do not care about anything environment! When they dont care, it doesn't get costed in the end price of a product. At the same time, Malaysia and Thailand that have not great but better regulations find it hard to compete because of the add-on cost associated with processes or disposal of waste properly. So why dont American's who have 90% financed China's rise to manufacturing fame through Wal-mart turn their focus back to China, stop buying Chinese goods until they clean up their factories!

[animatic]

jjj a good point

and when times get tough people go for even cheaper still.

Not healthier... DRAT!

[Spee]

"Imagine for a moment a three-kilometer-thick band of soot, particles, a cocktail of chemicals that stretches from the Arabic Peninsula to Asia," Achim Steiner, UN undersecretary general and executive director of the program, said during a news conference on the findings.

Nothing like a healthy dose of fear mongering to fire up all the chicken littles.

I didn't see anything in the article to substantiate such a claim, so of course it's always the default to resort to scare mongering.

How does pollution problems in a handful of cities get extrapolated into a continuous problem stretching 10,000 km? Only by fear monger propaganda.

I don't think anyone is going to deny urban pollution problems that need to be addressed, but jeez, let's keep things in perspective.

[Mosha]

Brilliant idea jjj. The US stops buying Chinese goods, and China demands the squillions of debt repaid.

[Jingthing]

How does pollution problems in a handful of cities get extrapolated into a continuous problem stretching 10,000 km? Only by fear monger propaganda.

Well, I saw a satellite PICTURE of this cloud on tv that reached all the way from China to India and through Thailand. It was continuous, NOT localized to the big cities. It was presented as the brown cloud we are talking about. Were they lying? Was it just a weather system? I have been unable to find an online link to a picture of this kind of continuous brown cloud though.

Edited November 22, 2008 by Jingthing

[plachon]

How does pollution problems in a handful of cities get extrapolated into a continuous problem stretching 10,000 km? Only by fear monger propaganda.

Well, I saw a satellite PICTURE of this cloud on tv that reached all the way from China to India and through Thailand. It was continuous, NOT localized to the big cities. It was presented as the brown cloud we are talking about. Were they lying? Was it just a weather system? I have been unable to find an online link to a picture of this kind of continuous brown cloud though.

Careful there Jingthing, before you get accused by Spee for drinking too much "koolaid" (whatever that is?) - his catchall for anything he doesn't quite understand or agree with. Must be hard being a neo-con, neo-liberalist die-in-the-wool denier of mankind's global impact on the environment these days, as their hallowed halls and theories crumble on all sides and they go begging for govt aid (is that kool?) to stop the sky from falling around them.

[HorseDoctor]

well diamondjack how do you know that Palin's not correct?Learned scholars believe the aborigines, (in australia)are the oldest living(still alive)species known to man and are at least 40,000years old.IMHOi f you can believe that,then you will believe anything!

Umm " Modern Man" ( and woman) dates from about 100,000 years ago in N Europe.. Many bones have been found . Looked just like us- well some of us. It's the " God " Mob that are unbelievable, Yeah, earth is 6000 years old, or is it 6 days?

I just wish my neigbors would quit burning plastic trash- last week about 20 tires got burned, black haze hung around for 3 days . Man, are Thais just .... or.......?

Edited November 23, 2008 by HorseDoctor