Paint it white!

This year was a disastrous summer for most Asian countries. As it becomes a yearly habit, heavy rains translate in killer floods and landslides. More than 2000 people were killed in Pakistan and millions of people were left homeless after the 2010 floods. China suffered from floods ans landslides.
I was in China during August 2010 and it was daily news to read that there had been a deadly landslide somewhere in the PRC. End of July Chengdu International airport had to be closed because of heavy rains. Landslides in Yunnan and Sichuan killed several people. But it wasn't until 8 August when about 1500 were killed at night because of a deadly landslide.
It seems that every year during the rainy season China and other Asian countries get hit harder and harder.
Of course the reason is clear to most of us. We have a lot of environmental problems. Watching the news or reading any newspaper/magazine will get you quite depressed on this topic. I guess the people's opinion towards environmentalism has dramatically changed over the last decade. We are aware of our problems and this generation has to face this tremendous task.

By now we should all know that global warming and pollution are ruining our planets. Overpopulation is probably according to me the biggest issue.
The disasters during the monsoon season can be explained. Farmers destroyed forest to cultivate crops and the water-absoring quality of the soil, deprived of trees, diminishes. Mountainsides or hill slopes are very sensible to this. Building cities on marshes and swaps, or transforming these natural wetlands into farmer's land will again reduce the water containing capacities of the earth. So basically the water has no place to escape and can not get in the ground.

An article form Newsweek magazine (7 June) has an interesting article concerning the Himalayas. Three major parts of our planet are covered with eternal snow. The Artic, Antarctic and the Himalayas.
The eternal snow from the Himalayas and its lower parts provides the primary rivers of Asia; Yellow, Yangtze, Mekong, Salween, Irrawaddy, Brahmaputra, Ganges, Indus, Amu Darya and Tarim.
The temperature in this vast Mountain range has risen to 0,74 degrees C over the last century, next century it will rise, according to scientists, with another 5 to 6 degrees C.
The rise of temperature is the main reason why more of the eternal snow has evaporated and poundered down on Asia during monsoon season.
Temperature changes have occurred thanks to global warming but also thanks to the main power resource of India and China: burning of wood and coal. 80% of China's emerging economy is powered by coal. Even the brand new solar panels fabricated in China and sold to the rest of the world are produces by factories using coal as their power source. Heating and cooking systems in rural China are composed of coal fires.
The dust and soot particles generated by these stoves and the combination with of combustion of diesel and fuel (China will have 200 million cars by 2020) turns the Himalayas into a heat absorbing area. Dark particles of dust and coal attract more heat and the more snow melt the worse it gets. When the white snow melt ans evaporates, more rain will be formed. But the surface of the Himalayas will be robbed of its white snow and the rock surface, which has a black rock colour, will protrude. Absorbing even more heat.

Mr Eduardo Gold of Peru won the 2009 "100 ideas to save the planet" competition. His idea was simple, but very pragmatic. With the $200.000 he won he is currently painting the Peruvian Andes white! His idea is that if the Andes rock peaks are painted white, the will reflect sun and heat and the Andes tops would become cold again and produce snow again.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10333304

Quite brilliant! I would even go an absurd step further. Paint your house white and especially the roofs. Throw away your black clothes and dress in white, paint the roads white, ... THINK WHITE, PAINT IT WHITE! Keep our planet COOL.

For anyone interested in environmentalism a must read book:
"Collapse" By Jared Diamond