Monday, May 07, 2007

Taming the Yellow Dragon: Climate Change in Western China

Taming the Yellow Dragon: Climate Change in Western China Digital Journalist... Taming the Yellow Dragon: Climate Change in Western China by James Whitlow Delano. "...he Chinese call it Taming the Yellow Dragon. It is a battle to halt irresistible yellow Gobi Desert sands that are advancing, filtering into and burying villages.
In the 1950s, during the policies of the Great Leap Forward, Mao Zedong ordered marginal steppe grassland to be ploughed, unleashing massive dust storms reminiscent of America's Dust Bowl years during the 1930s. In spring, sands reach Seoul and sometimes even Tokyo.
Livestock populations in China have tripled to 400 million since 1950. There are 298 million sheep in China versus only 8 million in the United States.
Migrants forced off of desiccated land may eventually number in the tens of millions. Two-and-a-half million 'Okies' fled the American Dust Bowl in a similar-sized country but with a population of only 150 million. With 1.3 billion people, Chinese migrants have far fewer options." More Works by James Whitlow Delano at his personal site.

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