Beijing is currently facing a huge dilemma. It needs more water. The population of the city has exploded and since the citizens have become much wealthier they now demand flushing toilets, more landscaping, more parks and ever more luxuries. All of that takes ever increasing amounts of water.
On August 8th, the Summer Olympics will begin in Beijing. Millions of people are expected to flood the city and so the whole area has been given a facelift, including building the worlds largest airport terminal and a stadium that looks like an irradiated birds nest.
The Chinese government is also tapping water resources from neighboring provinces and aquifers beneath the city to meet the huge demand for water the Olympics will bring. A few examples; an entire dry riverbed has been refilled with water for the rowing competitions, a huge canal has been dug to divert the Yangtze river, and clouds are being seeded with silver iodine to promote rain. The result is that water is being diverted away from provinces which become less arid each year as a massive drought widens and in the case of the cloud seeding that has the potential of changing weather patterns around the world.
So, I live here in the Pacific Northwest and I wonder why I should care about China's water problem. After all China is a long ways away. Well I refer you to a previous post for that answer. Imported from China It is truly a small planet we live on, we are all connected by the air we breathe, the water we drink and the food we eat. Politics may have formed national boundaries, but nature knows no boundary or country and the earths problems affect us all, regardless where we live.
Want to read more:
Provinces pay price for green Olympics | World news | The Guardian
And if you still think this is just a water problem across the Pacific pond, read this from the Seattle Times:
Seattle's Water Supplies Dwindling
And if you still think water is not an issue that will someday affect you, or perhaps even send some in your family to war go to:
If you live in the US, here are one-hundred tips on how to save water in your region.
In the immortal words of Jerry Brown, former governor of the great State of California; If it's yellow, let it mellow. If it's brown, flush it down. Wise words from a very different California governor. I mean, except for the current one. And that will be the terminator of this blog for today.
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