If things don’t improve though, and Japan and the other nations do not hand over their technology to the Chinese, I can almost hear Beijing saying something like: “The Chinese government has done everything it can to try to stem the pollution problem, however, greedy and uncooperative countries that want to see China fail are withholding from the Chinese people important environment and life saving technologies causing Chinese deaths and massive damage to China (and it’s neighboring countries? Haha). We call on these countries to stop their wanton disregard for human life and share with us their technology immediately. Please stop damaging China (and the environment of the rest of the world?) by refusing to hand over your technology” Haha.

Anyway, I’m quite sure the Chinese can do something on their own regarding the matter without resorting to pinning the blame on countries who don’t want to give away their tech for free. The Chinese may be able to grow their own tech, I mean, I’m sure they have bright scientists there as well. Add to that knowledge that can be contributed by overseas Chinese. And it’s not like they’re not doing anything. The banning of distribution and manufacture of some kinds of plastic bags is a nice start for them. And add to that a populace that’s very supportive of the national government, and a, erm, a very influential media arm that can easily influence public opinion, who knows, things may just get better.

When I lived Seoul, 2002-2006, the so-called “hwangsa”, or yellow dust storms from China, were pretty bad. Each year, usually in the March-April time frame, there was this huge yellow layer of dust in the sky that lasted for about two weeks. The yellow dust got into everything and went everywhere.

That the Gobi Desert now lies approximately 60 miles north of Beijing and continues to expand is certainly cause for alarm.

These transnational issues are going to be difficult to resolve, especially with a Chinese government that appears to be in total denial about, well, just about everything.

As long as the Chinese government feels that they can stonewall sensitive subjects due to the perception that they are the new 800lb gorilla on the international scene, don’t expect too much progress on any issue.

Governments worldwide need to really work on how to compromise or we’re all doomed.

And lastly, I’m having difficulty accessing JapanProbe. Is the site having technical difficulties? Other sites seem to be loading normally.

BTW, global temperatures haven’t risen in 10 years. [Expect Al Gore to claim credit if, due to solar inactivity, temperatures start going down.]

But still, even if the man-made global warming is insignificant compared to the huge influence of the Sun, just cutting down on air pollution, and reducing dependence on oil is good enough reason for these activities.