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They Know It’s Wrong, But What Can They Do…

By on Thursday, August 7th, 2008 | Comments Off

Mount Shasta back in the Spring of 2008— photo by Chris Tatro

Snow…Snow…my kingdom for some snow.

The smoke (not snow) is back, Folks. It’s close to the ground this time, hugging every little crevice and cranny like there’s a temperature inversion. I don’t have to run to the Siskiyou County Pollution to confirm what I smell and see. Nor do I need the WunderMap. That black plume of smoke may look like it’s headed straight up the coast, but it breathes like it’s directly overhead. I can’t help but feel some kinship with the Olympians who are in need of oxygen.

Speaking of which, here are pictures of the roofless Bird’s Nest from Wired Science. They pretty much say it all. The Chinese have tried everything, but the air is subject to the whims of the weather, and there’s nothing the Olympic authorities can do, except give it the OK, of course.

On Wednesday, the IOC issued a statement from Arne Ljungqvis, the chairman of the committee’s medical commission: “The Olympic Committee and the Beijing government are successfully managing the quality of the air in the city. Air quality at Games time will be adequate for Olympic sports events.”

And now for something completely different—this time from Tini Tran of the Associated Press: “The wall of gray haze around the National Stadium and across the city cut visibility down to a mile. On the eve of opening ceremonies, Beijing’s polluted air took center stage Thursday as the most visibly pressing problem for Olympic organizers who had promised to clean up the Chinese capital.”

To the left, is the new China Central Television (CCTV) headquarters building as seen through haze in Beijing Thursday Aug. 7, 2008. (AP Photo/Greg Baker)

I don’t know, Folks. Athletes are not invincible creatures from the planet Krypton. They are living breathing organisms sucking down a ton more air than your average person. Sad to say, Pollution kills. The ‘noxious cocktail’ of athletes pushing themselves to the limit in a dirty atmosphere could trigger a serious -potentially lethal – asthma attack, Murdoch University Associate Professor Peter Dingle said.

It’s too bad the Chinese didn’t put a roof on their Olympic Stadium, I say.

Laura signing off.

p.s. For more information about SendOutCards, Chris is the man. He can fill you in on all the opportunities and fun. I have a free sendoutcard of Mount Shasta or any other picture your heart desires—just waiting to have your name inscribed on the envelope by the Great Printer in Salt Lake.

I’ve Looked At Clouds From Both Sides Now

By on Wednesday, August 6th, 2008 | 2 Comments

Sunrise over Mount Eddy by Chris Tatro www.sendoutcards.com/site

So much rests on the weather. It always has and always will—unless we grow our food indoors and build structures that are impervious to climate changes, that is. Better yet, maybe we should start tunneling underground like a new species of Human Bug.

Coming from the experience of one who just spent all of July behind closed doors to keep out the smoke, I would rather live in harmony with nature than bury myself in a climate-controlled environment.

Speaking of climate control, I wonder if the Chinese officials are going to attempt to milk their clouds—drain them of typhoon moisture before the Olympic Opening Ceremonies (8/8/08). Cloud-seeding sounds so scary to me, especially in light of what happened back in 1952 when the Royal Brit Flyboys triggered a biblical deluge with their secret experimental fiasco. An estimated ninety million tons raged through Lynmouth, England in just one day, sweeping folks out to sea. That’s T O N S, TONS—2000lbs times 90,000,000 (million)!! Unfathomable!

China Daily reports that Friday’s Opening Ceremony at the futuristic Bird’s Nest stadium in Beijing could take place under smoggy overcast skies — and might even see a shower or thunderstorm. Judging from the potential beauty in this rehearsal picture, that would be a crying shame! I can see why Chinese officials are tempted to fool around with the weather. Plus, the rainwater would dispel some of the nasty pollution everyone is buzzing about.

Joel, a blogger at China Hope Live, snapped some telling pictures back in November of 2007 which contrast clear days with smoggy days in Tianjin, location of the Olympic football games.

Now you see it

..Now you don’t.

I truly hate smog! That’s one of the reasons I live in Northern California. To me, it’s totally understandable why those Olympic Cyclists from the United States got off their plane wearing Michael Jackson masks, which were given to them by their coaches, by the way. The silly, self-absorbed six have agreed to apologize, though, so this is old news.

Oh me….so many international incidents and so little time!

I sure hope everything goes smoothly. China is baring everything to the World, including its soul. Here is an ancient culture of very proud folks with as many dreams of a prosperous future as everyone else. This country has shyly opened a window to the other nations of the World, hoping to pass inspection in a sea fraught with free internet access. It’s too easy to find fault with a soul that’s laid bare these days. I pass. No more jabs.

Let the country that is without genocide, pollution, racism and illegally imprisoned human beings cast the first stone.

Laura signing off.

Butterfly Effect

By on Tuesday, August 5th, 2008 | Comments Off

Windswept Mount Shasta, August 2008

Fragile Strength

If two or three typhoons are churning their way towards Beijing, how many butterflies have been flapping their wings way out in the middle of the China Sea?

Don’t mind me, folks, I’m just pondering the Butterfly Effect—how something as imperciptible as a butterfly’s wings can set into motion such a huge turbulence, that, by the time it moves through the atmosphere and reaches the shore, it’s a full blown typhoon. The phenomenon is also known as the Ripple Effect.

Speaking of ripples, as you can see by the cloud patterns, we got a windy day here on the western slopes of Mount Shasta. I’m feeling mighty good—breathing clean air and enjoying the views. Why not have a free greeting card on me? Just click for Chris, your friendly, neighborhood expert on SendOutCards. One little click could set into motion the best butterfly effect of your life. And I’m not kidding, either.

Moving on. There are as many as three typhoons headed towards Beijing. According to Guo Hu, director of the Beijing Meteorological Observatory, an official weather forecast for Opening Ceremonies will be provided August 6th. The good news is, rain could clean up the air. But here’s the real question, folks: Is that air in need of one, two or three typhoons?

Two views on clear and smoggy day Check-out the same view in Beijing on a clear day and a smoggy day: Just like I said awhile back, there could be a burning mountain behind that layer of gray crud.

Independent sensor readings and photographs taken in Beijing tell us that efforts to clean up the city’s air just aren’t working, at least as of yesterday they weren’t. Today, there are some reports that the air is better, hopefully enough better that the Bird’s Nest (Chinese Olympic Stadium) in this gray picture will shine like it’s supposed to.

Actually, you can check out the ongoing pollution for yourself. There is a real-time, alien’s-eye-view of Beijing (WunderMap) complements of Beijing Airblog. See what you think.

I’ll tell you what I think, though. It’s going to be very difficult to clean up Beijing’s air, especially with all the recent Olympic construction and 2006 dust storms.

Plus it’s Summer there—stinky hot and wet as a dish rag—a very nasty combo that often gives rise to temperature inversions. Being from the South, I’m very familiar with late Summer temperature inversions. We call ‘em the ‘Dog Days‘; and we mope around with hang-dog expressions. We do not, I repeat do not go outside until the sun goes down, much less exercise in the heat of the day. That’s just pure suicide!

Laura signing off.

p.s. Here’s a scientific illustration of temp inversions. Oh yea, did I mention how they trap automobile exhaust.

Treading Water—the Newest Olympic Sport?

By on Monday, August 4th, 2008 | 1 Comment

Greetings from Mount Shasta! If you would like a real greeting card, the kind that you can hold in your hand, just say the word and I’ll get the Great Printer of SendOutCards right on it. Yesterday’s clear sunset (above) has set the tone for today. We are so grateful for clean air!

Speaking of which, it is time to check-in on our friendly, neighborhood pollution monitoring station in Weed: WOW! I’m excited! There’s a new kid on the block and it offers real-time info! Hourly Air Quality Data (unit 92 in Fort Jones, unit 93 in Weed)

What about our friends in Beijing, though? Has James Reynolds of the BBC updated his pollution readings? Answer: No, today’s thoughts from James are more concerned with freedom in China or the lack thereof. Not that this isn’t a worthy subject. It’s just that I am still intent on finding out how the Olympic athletes are simmering in that wet stir fry of Nitrogen Oxides, ozone and small particle pollution.

Not so good, if you ask Erin Smart, a fencer on the U.S. Olympic Team. Fine, if you ask U.S. weightlifter, Carissa Gump. Both have asthma but will be thankfully competing indoors. The I.O.C. (International Olympic Committee) has promised to postpone outdoor endurance competitions if the pollution levels get too bad.

Bad is an oh-so-relative term. Just whose Bad will the Olympic Committee be using? Beijing monitoring stations that don’t measure Nitrogen Oxide levels? Beijing levels that back in ’06 dropped the two lowest scores from their data collecting?

In my mind, folks, it pretty much comes down to this: Will the I.O.C. let the Chinese save face at the expense of the athletes? Speaking of which, the athletes are packing some serious heat—everything from specially designed filter masks to air purifiers, asthma puffers, eye drops, nasal sprays and throat lozenges. I guess all the efforts to spin air quality are not fazing participants overly much.

The fact is, U.S. runners are training at the seaside; ‘Ruskies’ are staying indoors; Japanese Olympians have been fitted with industrial grade face masks; ‘Ausies’ are flying in at the last minute and at least half are skipping Friday’s auspicious opening ceremonies (8/8/08).

To make everything more interesting, Beijing forecasters are predicting rain for the next few days. Moisture from the heavens is expected to do one of two things—either clean the air nicely, or rain-out the opening ceremony entirely:

“We estimate two or three typhoons will hit China’s coastal areas during the Games,” said Qiao Lin , a senior weather official at the China Meteorological Administration. “They might have Olympic Village, Hong Kong and Shanghai in their paths. We will closely monitor and issue early warnings if they do develop into a substantial threat.”

That’s enough from the weather-woman. Could we hear from Zhang Qiang, the Beijing weather manipulation official? How about draining those typhoons with a little sexy cloud seeding, baby? Not to worry, Zhang Qiang assures us; her team is quite prepared to intervene in the weather for the opening ceremony with cloud seeding if necessary.

Cloud Seeding? Typhoons? Holy Deluge times three! Me thinks the athletes should have brought inner tubes, blow up rafts and life-jackets in their carry-ons, instead of all that breathing gear.

In the meantime, monitoring is still an ugly word: Beijing’s air-pollution index for this Monday rose above the World Health Organization recommended maximum for the first time in four days. (Bernardo De Niz/Bloomberg News)

Having breathed a lot of awful air lately, it all looks rather glum to me. Sad to say, everything might boil down to an unbiased reading of convoluted pollution levels or three of your ordinary typhoons. Nothing much can be done about acts of god/Buddha etc., but, as for air quality, perhaps we should have loaned the Chinese one of our three state-of-the-art air monitors.

Here’s an example of real time data from Pollution monitoring station #93, more affectionately known as Weed, California. Happy to say, that anyone with free internet access can get a reading at any time, compliments of Homeland Security.

Air Quality Index – Current Conditions
µg/m³	0		40.0		80.0		175.0		300.0		500.0
1 HR	4.0 µg/m³
		Good		Moderate		Unhealthy Sensitive		Unhealthy		Very Unhealthy		Hazardous
24 HR	8.0 µg/m³
µg/m³	0		15.4		40.4		65.4		150.4		250.4

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They Know It’s Wrong, But What Can They Do…

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