Althouse: "The river's flow ranges from murky white to a bright shade of orange and the waters are so viscous that they barely ripple in the breeze."

September 17, 2009

"The river's flow ranges from murky white to a bright shade of orange and the waters are so viscous that they barely ripple in the breeze."

In China.

26 comments:

Rialby said...: But Thomas Friedman said they had banned plastic bags?; 9/17/09, 5:51 PM
Anonymous said...: Don't you recognize the green revolution when you see it?; 9/17/09, 5:59 PM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: No problemo. They will buy up our carbon credits so while we sit in the dark in our unheated homes, China will be cranking up their industrial machines.

So what if they are ruining their corner of the world, spreading pollution on the ground, in the water and in the air.

All that counts is that WE are virtuously green.....right?; 9/17/09, 6:04 PM
Fred4Pres said...: Yes, but do they have any of these?; 9/17/09, 6:11 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Heavy Metal is making a comeback?; 9/17/09, 6:12 PM
Anonymous said...: Yes, but do they have any of these?

What a bunch of racists. They killed it just because it looked different. Someone should organize a march on Panama.; 9/17/09, 6:15 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: For all their wisdom and longevity China can learn from the US Rahm.

You never want a serious crisis to go to waste ;); 9/17/09, 6:21 PM
paul a'barge said...: Take note, you so-called greenies. This is what your Cap'n'Trade is going to allow.

You raging hypocritical evil-doers.; 9/17/09, 6:33 PM
miller said...: We may becoming a 3rd world nation with mountains of debt and rivers of red ink, but at least we'll have free health care!; 9/17/09, 6:59 PM
MamaM said...: Drudge has a dreadful picture of Pelosi above a dire warning about blood being spilled. Her facial expression and coloration made me wonder about the possibility of something similarly toxic running through her veins.; 9/17/09, 7:09 PM
chickelit said...: That's really, really bad PR for Chinese manufacturing.

About 40 years ago, Starkweather Creek in Madison used to have an inches thick layer of bright green duckweed and stunk to high heaven. Somebody told me over on Trooper York that Oscar Mayer used to dump offal waste directly into the creek.
I guess they don't do that any more, nor do they slaughter in Madison.
But people still eat those hot dogs-where do they come from now?

wv urlogles (Greek for "you're speechless"?); 9/17/09, 7:23 PM
rhhardin said...: The Hudson below Glens Falls NY was a pleasant flourescent green, as I recall, carrying off some industrial waste or other, in the 50s.

That was society's tradeoff, though; it made whatever the product was cheaper to produce, and competition moved that benefit to the consumer rather than to the producer.

Make it illegal and the price goes up.

I don't know in the case of China where the offsetting benefit goes; probably to job availability.

The river is green but you're not living in dirt anymore.; 9/17/09, 7:24 PM
Fred4Pres said...: Dogwood said...
Yes, but do they have any of these?

What a bunch of racists. They killed it just because it looked different. Someone should organize a march on Panama.

9/17/09 6:15 PM

Perhaps they were Paulian, truther, fascist, birthers who killed the gentle beast? What other explanation makes sense?; 9/17/09, 7:40 PM
Wince said...: Rather than look inward and hobble US industry with irrational curbs on CO2, a nonpollutant, isn't there tremendous opportunity in supplying China with technologies and services that would improve the environment in ways that have immediate, life-saving benefits for the Chinese, and for the US would improve our balance of trade?

wv - "bardemis" = Shakespeare's midsummer night's wet dream; 9/17/09, 9:59 PM
David said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 9/17/09, 10:14 PM
David said...: Uh, don't be too smug.

The best customer of heavy metals that cause this pollution?

USA.

We have plenty of the metals in the ground, but our environmental regs make them uneconomic to produce. So we buy them from China.

Is this therefore America's fault? No, but we don't have much cause to feel superior either.; 9/17/09, 10:16 PM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: We have plenty of the metals in the ground, but our environmental regs make them uneconomic to produce. So we buy them from China.

Ah so....the ultimate long range plan is to pollute China and other areas of the world WHILE temporarily turning our country into a third world nation, greatly reducing our population through food shortages and illness....ONLY to be able to re-emerge from our Green Eden....after everyone else has cancer and is dead. THEN we can pounce and regain....something.

I feel like the Underpants Gnomes are now in charge of the world.; 9/17/09, 10:36 PM
Scott M said...: ...and yet they get a pass from the environmentalists over "climate change".; 9/18/09, 9:06 AM
bearbee said...: Bright orange and green?

Bottle it! Will look just like Gatorade!; 9/18/09, 9:49 AM
Superdad said...: all worth it because these batteries will be used to run electric cars.; 9/18/09, 11:27 AM
Angst said...: There are solutions for these problems.

I was an avid Kayaker and have spent a lot of time in and around rivers.

Here are two of many depressing stories I saw from here in the USofA with happy endings.

Up until the clean water act, the ENTIRE Potomac river flowed into a paper mill near Luke Maryland. What emerged looked like split pea soup. It stank. Well, the paper mill is still there but now they recycle their process water and the Potomac river sails by, largely undisturbed.

In East Tennessee, mountain top strip mining destroyed much of the natural rain runoff creeks. Instead, the water soaked into the raw earth, became very acidic (because of sulfur in the soil), and dissolved iron compounds. When it emerged, it was a BRIGHT orange toxic soup that killed everything in the stream. Today, the strip mining still occurs (sadness) but the soil is replanted over the strip mines and the rainwater controlled. Best new of all, the streams have recovered.

We can and should solve these problems and not just outsource our pollution.; 9/18/09, 12:02 PM
Nihimon said...: What has happened to editors in the last decade? I'm so sick of seeing "lead" as the past-tense of lead, as in "I lead them to the promised land." I'm also sick of seeing "then" used when "than" is meant, and I get that in the first sentence of this story from Reuters.

"One needs to look no further then the river that runs through Shangba..."; 9/18/09, 2:15 PM
Nihimon said...: What has happened to editors in the last decade? I'm so sick of seeing "lead" as the past-tense of lead, as in "I lead them to the promised land." I'm also sick of seeing "then" used when "than" is meant, and I get that in the first sentence of this story from Reuters.

"One needs to look no further then the river that runs through Shangba..."; 9/18/09, 2:15 PM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: What has happened to editors in the last decade?

They went to public schools.; 9/18/09, 3:32 PM
Mikio said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 9/22/09, 11:37 AM
Mikio said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 9/22/09, 11:37 AM