Beijing will be partially consumed by the desert in 40 years.

April 7, 2007 @ 12:41 am | Comment

Check out this map:

http://soils.usda.gov/use/worldsoils/mapindex/desert.html

You may notice that desertification is a problem facing almost all nations at Beijing’s latitude in the whole Eurasia. Desertification at this latitude is probably more due to the global climate changes than how the people at this latitude live.

April 7, 2007 @ 2:40 am | Comment

“Desertification at this latitude is probably more due to the global climate changes than how the people at this latitude live.”

Isn’t it true that most of the Yellow River basin used to be thick forest?

April 7, 2007 @ 5:27 am | Comment

JXie,

That’s true to a point. But I think you may want to check out Mark Elvin’s The Retreat of the Elephants. It’s a fascinating look at Chinese history from an ecological perspective and it demonstrates the enormous impact that Chinese civilization has had on this area for several thousands of years. Elvin does this both whimsically by tracking the decline of range for megafauna as well as more prosaically by looking at deforestation, shifts in arable land due to overuse and then introduction of new world crops, water use and water management, as well as a host of other factors.

It’s a great read for anyone interested in getting a background on Chinese environmental issues.

April 7, 2007 @ 9:15 am | Comment

Jeremiah, is there any commentary on the globalvoices site itself that you can link to?

April 7, 2007 @ 8:54 pm | Comment

It’s just a sidebar link, Raj; no commentary.

April 8, 2007 @ 10:48 am | Comment

hey j, have you moved granite studio to a new address?

April 15, 2007 @ 5:01 pm | Comment