soaring crane Posted April 23, 2014 (edited) It's very unfair to call this China's problem or China's fault. We have seen the enemy and it is us: The World's Airpocalypse More articles on the subject This has to end. It just has to end. Edited April 23, 2014 by soaring crane 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
GrandmasterP Posted April 23, 2014 (edited) In England flatulent cows get some of the blame for air pollution. That seems harsh to me. Does seem silly IMO all these green taxes and 'sustainable' eco fuels when we are sitting on top of about 500 years worth of coal. They converted one of our biggest power stations to wood chips burning from coal. The wood chip is imported from the USA and produces as much carbon as coal when they burn it. That power station sits on top of the biggest coal field in England. If they can filter carbon out of wood smoke then they could surely do the same for coal. Edited April 23, 2014 by GrandmasterP 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RiverSnake Posted April 23, 2014 Holy moly. My 2 cents, Peace 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
joeblast Posted April 23, 2014 I'm all for cutting down on actual pollutants. But to keep up the carbon dioxide tax meme....man, that's getting old. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
soaring crane Posted April 23, 2014 (edited) This isn't about carbon dioxide at all! It's about genuinely toxic air and water and ground. It's about mercury and arsenic, ammonia and dioxin and a huge host of industrial pollutants being released into the atmosphere and ground water by the metric tonload. It is really about an ecological apocalypse mounting on the near horizon. I would welcome and end to the absurd global warming and co2 debate. And I would welcome a 20 percent surcharge on every single item manufactured in China with proceeds to go directly into cleaning this. Now. Edited April 23, 2014 by soaring crane 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Aetherous Posted April 23, 2014 It's very unfair to call this China's problem or China's fault. I don't understand... On the other hand, in the US we have some toxins. I say we get rid of them all and enjoy a natural world. 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
soaring crane Posted April 23, 2014 (edited) I don't understand... On the other hand, in the US we have some toxins. I say we get rid of them all and enjoy a natural world. The "US" was actually meant as a stress on "us", as in "all of us", oops The companies producing in China are western companies for the largest part. Do you know of any American-brand consumer goods that are made in the US? China is just obliging by allowing the western manufacturers destroy their own land (and abuse their own people) and getting filthy rich off the arrangement. But it's western consumerism that is fueling this demon. Huge, monstrously huge toxic clouds form over Chinese manufacturing cities. The chemical contents of those clouds are an evil cocktail of pretty much every industrial pollutant known (and in western countries, strictly regulated). They stay around until the atmospheric conditions are such that they get sucked into the jet-stream, and distributed around the planet. The US Pacific Northwest is already being poisoned. Edited April 23, 2014 by soaring crane 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
soaring crane Posted April 23, 2014 (edited) Here y'all go, bringing it a little closer to home: air-pollution-china-is-spreading-across-pacific-us It's actually a softball article, but I think the source is pretty reliable Edited April 23, 2014 by soaring crane Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Brian Posted April 23, 2014 (edited) Here y'all go, bringing it a little closer to home: air-pollution-china-is-spreading-across-pacific-us It's actually a softball article, but I think the source is pretty reliable This illustration from a link within that article (published by National Academy of Sciences) is interesting: Edited April 23, 2014 by Brian 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Infinity Posted April 23, 2014 People are so focused on their own personal wants they don't see the bigger picture until that consequences threaten their life style or life and then they have to act. The Uk had its industrial revolution and it's smog and I guess China is having it's too. We all make mistakes and hopefully we all will see the error of our ways and stop buying and making all this shit that eventually ends up in land fill or furnaces. Good to advertise these things! Interesting times... "Be the change you want to see in the world" - Ghandi ∞ 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
soaring crane Posted April 24, 2014 This illustration from a link within that article (published by National Academy of Sciences) is interesting: , SO2 = Sulfur Dioxide NOx = Nitrogen Oxide CO = Carbon Monoxide But BC? What's that? I tried to find it and a common theme seems to be pesticides, but I don't think that's what it refers to. Regardless, it's a tiny sampling of the chemicals and heavy metals that are being released into the atmosphere and water. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
soaring crane Posted April 24, 2014 People are so focused on their own personal wants they don't see the bigger picture until that consequences threaten their life style or life and then they have to act. The Uk had its industrial revolution and it's smog and I guess China is having it's too. Yes but there's no reason why they should be polluting like it's 1879. And Britain's entire industrial output of the time was a fraction of the activity of just one major Chinese manufacturing city today. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Infinity Posted April 24, 2014 (edited) Yes but there's no reason why they should be polluting like it's 1879. And Britain's entire industrial output of the time was a fraction of the activity of just one major Chinese manufacturing city today. To state the obvious China's output is bigger because China is bigger and the population / market is bigger and we have faster newer technologies which produce more. Its shocking but how can we stop one billion people from wanting 'a better life'? It's difficult to get one person to change let alone one billion. Until people FEEL the consequences of their actions they won't change or that is the way I see it. And when we all breath the smog and the flooding waters wash our door steps change will happen. I have a few kids and went to a kids party the other day and they all received a bag full of plastic shit that broke with five minutes and ended up in the bin. Imho the average person is a mindless sheep that does not think about what they are doing until they FEEL the pinch and unfortunately the media don't help but capatilise on it. I guess action will be done when it has to be, your post is an example of this, action perhaps beginning... ∞ Edited April 24, 2014 by Infinity 5 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
GrandmasterP Posted April 24, 2014 (edited) We're the ones who buy the shit too. Fair enough it's not as if there's much choice sometimes. Most all computering type kit comes from China as do phones and the like. I've always fancied owning a Chinese mini van but they're not on sale in the UK yet. The Chinese workers seem to me ( having been to China) rom what bit I saw, to be in the same place we were here back in the 1970s. Full employment, increasing prosperity, able to buy a little car and take the family out into the countryside to some touristy nice place like Wudang Mountain Park and Resorts of a weekend. Can't blame the Chinese workers for making the best they can out of life. Edited April 24, 2014 by GrandmasterP 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Brian Posted April 24, 2014 SO2 = Sulfur Dioxide NOx = Nitrogen Oxide CO = Carbon Monoxide But BC? What's that? I tried to find it and a common theme seems to be pesticides, but I don't think that's what it refers to. Regardless, it's a tiny sampling of the chemicals and heavy metals that are being released into the atmosphere and water. BC referred to "black carbon." Here's the link from the original article above: http://www.pnas.org/content/111/5/1736 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
