Russia Is Burning

[filkertom]

Tragic beyond belief:

Deaths in Moscow have doubled to an average of 700 people a day as the Russian capital is engulfed by poisonous smog from wildfires and a sweltering heat wave, a top health official said Monday.

Moscow health chief Andrei Seltsovky blamed weeks of unprecedented heat and suffocating smog for the rise in mortality compared to the same time last year, Russian news agencies reported. He said city morgues were nearly overflowing, filled with 1,300 bodies, close to their capacity.

Acrid smog blanketed Moscow for a six straight day Monday, with concentrations of carbon monoxide and other poisonous substances two to three times higher than what is considered safe. Those airborne pollutants reached a record over the weekend — exceeding the safe limit by nearly seven times.

About 550 separate blazes were burning nationwide Monday, mainly across western Russia, including about 40 around Moscow, according to the Emergencies Ministry. Forest and peat bog fires have been triggered by the most intense heat wave in 130 years of record keeping.

Alexander Frolov, head of Russia's weather service, said judging by historic documents, this heat wave could be the worst in up to 1,000 years.

As is usual on Yahoo, the comments are a mix of rational voices and nuckin futbars, but there is one I thought was particularly telling:

For all the people talking crap, you may not have noticed but there is only one atmosphere on this planet. Not only is deforestation a problem for the entire planet, do you this this smoke is going to stay in one place?

Comments

[annearchy.livejournal.com]

As the American Lung Association says, "If you can't breathe, nothing else matters."

I work in air pollution control. I was unaware of this story until this morning (apparently missed it online and haven't seen TV news all weekend). This truly sounds like a tragedy. No, smoke doesn't stay in one place. Apparently there are also wildfires in Ontario, Canada, so the US Northeast will probably be affected by those. Air moves all around the globe; studies have shown that pollution from China sometimes affects the United States.

Okay, off my professional soap box now.

[lizziecrowe.livejournal.com]

Are you kidding?? THANK YOU for your professional soapbox, and thank you for sharing your thoughts. It's always good to hear from someone in the field who knows what they're talking about, no matter the subject.

[infinitemorning.livejournal.com]

Russia has also been trying to conceal the scale of the problem. I read today that Russian doctors are afraid to diagnose people with problems related to smoke inhalation for fear of losing their jobs.

[annearchy.livejournal.com]

And there was a story the other day in which a doctor said something like, "Foreigners should not avoid Russia. It's safe (as long as you use a gas mask)".

[kilbia.livejournal.com]

Kudos to the quoted commenter for pointing out the obvious, and shame on those who didn't think of it themselves.

I lived in Oregon when the Chernobyl accident happened, and there was an article in the paper about how radiation began showing up in the milk from the local cows.

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

I can well believe it--I attended a minor scientific conference after Chernobyl (a few months after) and talked to one researcher who specialized in water plants. He used e-mail and phone to recruit colleagues around the world to survey the amount of radiation that showed up in one common --kelp I think; something with a very wide distribution. When he got of the phone he picked up his own kelp sample he'd gathered that morning and, just for grins ran a geiger counter over it. When he heard the hiss, he quit grinning.

The actual counting was done on carefully dried, ashed samples so that different water weights wouldn't throw things off--but he said he threw the rest of the kelp in the radioactive disposal.

[alverant.livejournal.com]

That's tragic news. I hope it's over soon. How much can be done about it? The heat is one thing, but the smog ... how do you take care of that?

[atdt1991.livejournal.com]

building-size filters!

or pollution eating microbes!

What do you mean, what if the microbes mutate? The problem is solved!

[annearchy.livejournal.com]

gas masks :(

[nagasvoice.livejournal.com]

On the longer term, reduce and clean up their auto fleet and install better filters on the coal-burning electrical generators. I don't know for sure what else might be emitting the pollutants, but there's probably problems with various manufacturing plants burning coal for energy too.

[shockwave77598.livejournal.com]

Even if not one drop of gas were burned in all of the entire globe, it would not change the pollution in Moscow today. This is all being caused by wildfires -- wood burning. And as much of a fan of being able to breathe as I am, this IS a natural event and a natural cycle. When the dead wood and brush reaches a saturation point, something starts a fire and it all burns. Then the ash helps the surviving plants and seeds to grow better.

[alverant.livejournal.com]

Not ALL of it. Moscow had smog problems before this with their internal combustion engines. All major cities have that problem but the poorer cities (where people can't afford to properly maintain their vehicles) it's worse. The wildfires made a bad situation much much worse.

[nagasvoice.livejournal.com]

I recall reading about Moscow smog before, and the problems with coal-burning in amny eastern EU cities. I assumed it wasn't quite as bad as Beijing smog, but I only have the word of newscasters that this all dwarfs smog problems I'm familiar with in East SF-Bay area, or Ventura or East Riverside-LA-type smog.

[robin-june.livejournal.com]

Has anyone else noticed how Smokey The Bear's message is now, "Only YOU can prevent wildfires!"

It used to be, "....forest fires."

[joyful.livejournal.com]

I had noticed that recently. Do you know when the changeover happened?

[robin-june.livejournal.com]

I think I remember it maybe a year ago.

[randwolf.livejournal.com]

The record heat wave (http://voices.washingtonpost.com/capitalweathergang/2010/08/relentless_heat_wave_roasts_ru.html) that makes these fires more likely probably is a result of climate change. But of course it does not matter any more how much coal we do not burn.

[ldyerzsie.livejournal.com]

You wait for the temperature inversion to reverse. And stay inside. That's about all you can do...at least when you absolutely cannot control the point of pollution creation.

[tcgtrf.livejournal.com]

I'm surprised that you guys haven't heard about the drought in Russia. It's going to have a long-lasting effect on the world economy.

The wildfires are not their biggest problem. Their wheat crop died. Not quite all of it, but enough that Vlad Putin has forbidden sales to other countries. Winter wheat is used for miscellaneous foodstuffs, but spring wheat, the kind that failed, is the source for bread and pasta.

With the Russian grain excluded from the market, we're going to experience an inflation in all meat and cereal foodstuffs at the same time that we have a deflation in wages, bank interest on savings, and money received for sales.

That combination may be enough of a push to send the economy down over the shoulder of the "head-and-shoulders" graph.

Tom Trumpinski

[teddywolf.livejournal.com]

I don't know if it will be the final tipping point for the world economy. We heard that before with increasing crude oil prices, for example, and that stuff is pretty pervasive in our overall supply chain. We've had higher prices at the pump and the home-heating fuel-tank during a pretty nasty depression. But yes, it is going to be rough and I expect my weekly pasta bill to double.

Hmm, maybe I better invest in a lot of shelf-stable egg fettucini while I still can. If you haven't had it before it is some of the best dry pasta I have ever eaten.

(TomT, please give Kitten a [former] Lensman's best regards)

[tigertoy.livejournal.com]

WILL wastes a great deal of air time on the commodity markets, and even though I mostly ignore it, some of what they're saying sticks. My impression is that you're overestimating the damage to the wheat crop and also how much effect it will have on the economy. So far, it's nowhere near as much of a disruption as what we've seen in the last few years with the increased demand for corn for ethanol. Of course, if the weather in Asia stays terrible for a few years, and that gets combined with the emerging outbreak of wheat rust, it could become more extreme. It still won't make much difference in how much Americans pay for food; grain prices are a very small part of the total cost of what we eat. Globally, it will mean things are a lot worse for some poor countries and somewhat worse for all poor countries. The food aid programs that depend on that wheat are already scrambling. But it won't affect Wall Street or Main Street USA much.

It is one more straw on the camel's back. But it's only a straw.

[tcgtrf.livejournal.com]

Have to disagree with you and WILL, even though I send them money.

Grain futures have already risen 20% on the Chicago Board of Trade, the largest jump since the 1970s. The American grocery suppliers do something interesting when wheat prices rise--they don't raise prices, they make the size of their packaging smaller. The typical consumer won't even notice at first--they didn't a couple of years back when they did it.

The Russian situation is more serious and more extensive than many analysists realize because of their history and traditions--bread = stability.

Here's STRATFOR's take on the wheat:

http://www.stratfor.com/weekly/20100809_drought_fire_and_grain_russia?utm_source=GWeekly&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=100810&utm_content=readmore&elq=fec9923a26b84d97a893a1caefad4379

Keep in mind what set off the bursting of the housing bubble--a sudden rise in gasoline prices in America causing American consumers to start holding on to their cash, rather than spending it full tilt. Our current economic situation seems to magnify the ripples caused by commodity spikes into tidal waves.

Tom

[lariss.livejournal.com]

"No, we don't share the same atmosphere! There's just no way! Our free American atmosphere is WAAAAAY more equal than their Russian fascist-commie atmosphere"
/end_ignorance