nebula Posted August 7, 2008 Group: Royal Member Followers: 10 Topic Count: 5,823 Topics Per Day: 0.75 Content Count: 45,870 Content Per Day: 5.95 Reputation: 1,897 Days Won: 83 Joined: 03/22/2003 Status: Offline Birthday: 11/19/1970 Share Posted August 7, 2008 China's smogs have surprise climate benefit * 07 August 2008 * NewScientist.com news service Who would have thought that smog had an upside? It may be the scourge of China's urban citizens and a prickly PR problem during the Olympics, but surprisingly, the pea-soupy fallout from Chinese industrial pollution could be reducing the country's contribution to climate change from at least one greenhouse gas. A British team has been adding sulphate to laboratory rice paddies in an effort to mimic the effect of acid rain on Asia's most important food crop. This equivalent of typical acid rain reduced methane emissions from flooded paddies by up to 25 per cent, says Vincent Gauci of the Open University in Milton Keynes in the UK (Journal of Geophysical Research, DOI: 10.1029/2007JG000501). Methane from agriculture is the second most important human-made greenhouse gas after carbon dioxide, and by some estimates up to a third of it comes from methane-generating bacteria lurking in rice paddies. So Asia's thickening smogs could be good news, in one respect, for the global climate. That's as long as the acid rain does not simultaneously reduce the yield of rice fields, causing farmers to flood more and more fields to maintain production. In fact, says Gauci, "the acid rain seems to increase rice yields". That may be how the unexpected methane suppression operates. By boosting grain production, the sulphur helps plants retain organic matter that once disappeared from their roots to trigger the manufacture of methane in the flooded fields. From issue 2668 of New Scientist magazine, 07 August 2008, page 6 Source Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 8, 2008 Share Posted August 8, 2008 Another bit of evidence that the earth has a really good Creator. Who would have thought of that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leonard Posted August 8, 2008 Group: Royal Member Followers: 2 Topic Count: 115 Topics Per Day: 0.02 Content Count: 8,281 Content Per Day: 1.12 Reputation: 249 Days Won: 3 Joined: 03/03/2004 Status: Offline Birthday: 10/30/1955 Share Posted August 8, 2008 Quick! Burn more fossil fuels! SAVE THE EARTH!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 9, 2008 Share Posted August 9, 2008 Quick! Burn more fossil fuels! SAVE THE EARTH!!! "The Greenies want my air conditioner?" the fellow asked incredulously. Then he jacked the slide on his 12-guage and said, "They can have my air conditioner when they pry it from my cold, dead fingers!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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