Global Air Pollution Shocker!!! - See Map

[WhiskeyGirl]

Where is air pollution concentrated?

"Eastern China Has Poorest Air Quality in the World"

Canadian scientists have developed a map of global air-particulate pollution using National Aeronautics and Space Administration satellite data, and it shows that China's air quality is very poor compared to the rest of the world.

Aaron van Donkelaar and Randall Martin from Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada created the map using satellite data because they believed ground-based detection would be "spotty" in areas or nonexistent. The data used for the map is from 2001 to 2006.

See map and the rest of the story here - http://www.dailytech.com/Eastern+China+Has+Poorest+Air+Quality+in+the+World/article19741c.htm

comment - " In a world where apparently only the US can do wrong in the way of the environment it seems to me that none of the environmentalists are on China's back about its horribly polluting ways. Lets remember that the wind currents take that pollution east and can hurt the air quality for everyone east of there. We are so busy arguing about anthropogenic causes of global warming that nobody is even bothering to chastise the Chinese for having few if any environmental laws at all. Maybe they need a couple of Cuyahoga rivers burning in their neck of the woods to start caring.. thou I doubt that would even matter."

For some reason, the Obama admin seems to stay up late finding ways to outsource American jobs to China...

Why is that?  No jobs for Americans?

[WhiskeyGirl]

China, the world's most populous nation, is a rich and diverse melting pot which is expected to one day be the world's largest economy.  Burdened by the environmental costs of rapid expandsion fueled by coal power, China leads the world in carbon emissions and emissions of many other airborne pollutants.  The air quality is so bad that often major cities are blanketed by a thick smog that is enough to trigger asthma attacks and breathing problems in those not prepared with masks.

With such problems, few questioned recent reports from NASA, which placed the blame for 15 percent of the air pollution over the U.S. on China, blown across the Pacific by the jets stream.  While the critical report certainly seems accurate, a new report from Carnegie Mellon puts this picture in a new light and shifts the blame away from China.

According to the report, much of China's chronic air pollution problems are not the fault of domestic endeavors, but rather it places culpability on international corporations that have outsourced their production to China.  According to the report, 1.7 billion metric tons of carbon or 33 percent of its emissions are the result of producing exports to sell abroad.

more here - http://www.dailytech.com/Report+Blames+US+for+Part+of+Chinese+Emissions/article12708.htm

How much Chinese pollution, and pollution in the US can now be blamed on Obama's stimulus/recovery money?  Obama's outsourcing of American economy?  American jobs?

Seems like the US is doing a good job managing pollution, yet Obama and the EPA want to outsource our economy to other dirty places.!!!

 

[WhiskeyGirl]

Here is a big color map -

"NASA Maps Global Air Pollution"

However, Nasa has just published the first long-term global map that shows density of particulate matter below 2.5 micrometres in diameter. This size is important, because it’s small enough to get past the body’s defences and accumulate in the lungs, making it dangerous to human health. Epidemologists believe that they cause millions of premature deaths each year.

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/09/nasa-maps-global-air-pollution/

NASA or Canadian scientists?