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Related: About this forumChina's toxic air pollution resembles nuclear winter, say scientists
China's toxic air pollution resembles nuclear winter, say scientists
Chinese scientists have warned that the country's toxic air pollution is now so bad that it resembles a nuclear winter, slowing photosynthesis in plants and potentially wreaking havoc on the country's food supply.
Beijing and broad swaths of six northern provinces have spent the past week blanketed in a dense pea-soup smog that is not expected to abate until Thursday. Beijing's concentration of PM 2.5 particles those small enough to penetrate deep into the lungs and enter the bloodstream hit 505 micrograms per cubic metre on Tuesday night. The World Health Organisation recommends a safe level of 25.
He Dongxian, an associate professor at China Agricultural University's College of Water Resources and Civil Engineering, said new research suggested that if the smog persists, Chinese agriculture will suffer conditions "somewhat similar to a nuclear winter".
She has demonstrated that air pollutants adhere to greenhouse surfaces, cutting the amount of light inside by about 50% and severely impeding photosynthesis, the process by which plants convert light into life-sustaining chemical energy.
She tested the hypothesis by growing one group of chilli and tomato seeds under artificial lab light, and another under a suburban Beijing greenhouse. In the lab, the seeds sprouted in 20 days; in the greenhouse, they took more than two months. "They will be lucky to live at all," He told the South China Morning Post newspaper.
Chinese scientists have warned that the country's toxic air pollution is now so bad that it resembles a nuclear winter, slowing photosynthesis in plants and potentially wreaking havoc on the country's food supply.
Beijing and broad swaths of six northern provinces have spent the past week blanketed in a dense pea-soup smog that is not expected to abate until Thursday. Beijing's concentration of PM 2.5 particles those small enough to penetrate deep into the lungs and enter the bloodstream hit 505 micrograms per cubic metre on Tuesday night. The World Health Organisation recommends a safe level of 25.
He Dongxian, an associate professor at China Agricultural University's College of Water Resources and Civil Engineering, said new research suggested that if the smog persists, Chinese agriculture will suffer conditions "somewhat similar to a nuclear winter".
She has demonstrated that air pollutants adhere to greenhouse surfaces, cutting the amount of light inside by about 50% and severely impeding photosynthesis, the process by which plants convert light into life-sustaining chemical energy.
She tested the hypothesis by growing one group of chilli and tomato seeds under artificial lab light, and another under a suburban Beijing greenhouse. In the lab, the seeds sprouted in 20 days; in the greenhouse, they took more than two months. "They will be lucky to live at all," He told the South China Morning Post newspaper.
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China's toxic air pollution resembles nuclear winter, say scientists (Original Post)
GliderGuider
Feb 2014
OP
kristopher
(29,798 posts)1. See also
China's toxic air pollution resembles nuclear winter, say scientists
http://www.democraticunderground.com/112765057
China Smog So Bad That Crop Photosynthesis "Barely Sustained" - Quarter Of Mainland Blanketed
http://www.democraticunderground.com/112765064
and
China 'Lacks Unity' Over Air Pollution: State Media (xpost from FA)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/112765061
hatrack
(59,585 posts)2. Yes, but they'll be taking over the world soon, or something like that
My nominees for taking over the world?