Global threat of the 4x4 desert drivers (STOP THAT, IT'S SILLY ALERT)

The Times ^ | August 20, 2004 | Gillian Harris

[MadIvan]

THE “Toyotarisation” of deserts has contributed to a ten-fold increase in dust storms around the globe and is damaging the environment and human health, a leading academic said yesterday.

Off-road driving in the Middle East and the south western United States is being blamed for destroying the deserts’ fragile crust and allowing clouds of fine dust particles, smaller than a grain of sand, to be swept away.

Scientists estimate that there are now 3,000 million tonnes of dust being whipped thousands of miles around the world, generating storms across Africa, China, the Middle East and the US. They say that Europe has yet to suffer dust storms, which can be 80 miles wide and last more than six hours, but the Continent could experience them by the end of the century. Environmentalists who have monitored dust-storm data from 1947 to the late 1990s say that drought, wind, overgrazing and deforestation have led to increased dust production in areas such as the Bodele Depression in Chad — the world’s biggest source of dust — and the Taklamakan desert in central China.

Andrew Goudie, Professor of Geography at Oxford University, said that what he called “Toyotarisation” — damage caused by four-wheel-drive vehicles — has led to a significant increase in dust.

“There are a huge number of these vehicles driving across deserts now. It is quite extraordinary that, in the Middle East, nomads who used to ride camels now tend their flocks in 4x4 vehicles. The routes they use radiate out all over the desert.

“In the US it is staggering how many people ride around in dune buggies, which is fun but is also a significant cause of dust storms and pollution.”

Addressing the 30th congress of the International Geographical Union in Glasgow yesterday, Professor Goudie said that, in addition to creating storms which can reduce visibility to less than half a mile, increased dust production had serious consequences for human health.

“Dust storms pump herbicides and pesticides out of agricultural soil and dried-up lake-beds and send them out into the atmosphere. They carry allergens which affect people’s health. In the US a disease called valley fever is a big problem because it causes the nasal passages and skin to puff up. Dust can also cause respiratory diseases,” he said.

Although Europe has not had a dust storm, Saharan dust has reached northern countries including Britain, where it falls as “blood rain” — red dust particles which are borne on the wind from Africa and fall in Britain as rain.

Professor Goudie said that, if the volume of dust continues to increase at the present pace, Britain will experience the sort of dust storms that have caused hundreds of deaths on American roads.

“The cross-boundary nature of dust makes it a truly global issue and one that is not receiving the attention it deserves. The importance of dust basins as a source of global dust is now being more widely understood and the environmental consequences identified,” he said.

Already environmentalists are warning that dust storms could jeopardise the future of African rural areas in the same way that the Dust Bowl of the 1930s destroyed the prairie lands of the American west, forcing the populations of states such as Oklahoma and Nebraska to migrate.

[MadIvan]

I've noticed these environmental scientists have displayed a tendency to become silly...I'm warning them not to get silly again.

Regards, Ivan

[MadIvan]

Ping!

[JRandomFreeper]

Or what? The Comfy Chair? The Spanish Inquisition?

/john

[Sender]

With both global Toyotarisation and bovine methane release, it's a wonder life survives at all.

[adam_az]

THE “Toyotarisation” of deserts has contributed to a ten-fold increase in dust storms around the globe and is damaging the environment and human health, a leading academic said yesterday.

There's the problem. Everyone know s that the only proper off-road vehicle is a Jeep Wrangler. Sheesh.

[Brad’s Gramma]

Stupid, STUPID people!!! Makes me want to take MY Ess You Vee to the desert and contribute to this silliness!!!

[VisualizeSmallerGovernment]

Dust was unheard of in the Middle East before those Toyotas came along.

[JoeSixPack1]

...Toyotarisation...

So they set out to destroy the world one grain of sand at a time! Those dirty rotten so and so's!!! Why aren't they using Fords??? It's an evil plot! I'm moving to france! This is horrible.

Tom Daschole is deeply saddened! Freepers worldwide recognize how hugh and serious a beeberizational influx of airborne nasties we're up against!! Outlaw feather dusters immediately!!

[ken5050]

What about the damage caused by the RPGs, nachine guns, and mortars mounted in the back of all the damn Toyotas?

[samtheman]

What? No Global Warming? Well.. well... I know! Toyotarization! That's the threat! And this time it's really really really real!

[glock rocks]

Aw, sorry Ivan. I'm sending some more death and destruction your way... just filled the tanks on the 4x4, and the hills beckon. Grammie, you got the tanks full on the Mog? I'll meet ya out in the dunes. Bring the family, we've got some dirt bikes and 4-runners.

BTW Ivan, who are these idiots?

[Richard-SIA]

Useful Idgits of the Sierra Club/Earth First! persuasion!

Friends of Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) no doubt.

[Brad’s Gramma]

Be right there!

Loading up the Ess You Vee!!!! Me and Brad and the big ole German Shepherd.

[glock rocks]

Thank you.

When I consider how insane borrin Orrin is, I remember our good neighbors to the west. You gonna run him outta town?

[glock rocks]

German Shepard? Don't you know dawgs cause pollution??

Okay, I'll bring my pack. I'm sure everyone will get along famously.

[PeterFinn]

Ah, I see. Toyotas are a problem. Land Rovers, being proper British vehicles with good manners, know better than stir up the dust. Just a bunch of crap from the Chicken Little wing of the Whacko movements - they have to change their tune now that global warming isn't working out for them.

[KangarooJacqui]

Andrew Goudie, Professor of Geography at Oxford University, said that what he called “Toyotarisation” — damage caused by four-wheel-drive vehicles — has led to a significant increase in dust.

Excuse me, professor, but your anti-Japanese bias is showing. What about Land Rovers, eh? I don't hear a word about Land Rovers... oh yes, of course, because they're British and couldn't possibly be the problem.

[KangarooJacqui]

Dust was unheard of in the Middle East before those Toyotas came along.

You ARE joking, right?

Tell me you're joking...

[KangarooJacqui]

Ah, now the professor's making a bit more sense...

Dust storms pump herbicides and pesticides out of agricultural soil and dried-up lake-beds and send them out into the atmosphere. They carry allergens which affect people’s health.

You mean like this one, that occurred on February 8, 1983 (and which I saw for myself):

At its height, the dust-storm extended across the entire width of Victoria, and was many kilometres across. The dust-cloud was some 320m deep when it struck Melbourne, but in other areas extended thousands of metres into the atmosphere. It was estimated that about 50,000 tonnes of topsoil were stripped from the Mallee (approximately 1,000 tonnes of it being dumped on the city), leaving the ground bare, and exacerbating the effects of the drought. Open water channels in the northwest were clogged with sand and dirt. The combined effect of drought and dust-storm inflicted damage on the land that, according to the then President of the Victorian Farmers and Graziers’ Association, would take up to 10 years and tens of millions of dollars to repair.
Source: Australian Bureau of meteorology website

Except that that one was caused by a combination of overgrazing, overclearing and drought on what is the driest continent on earth, outside of Antarctica.

[Desdemona]

Some people have entirely too much time on their hands.