Chittagong Test and clouds
I am currently reading a fascinating book (“Prescription for the Planet”, Tom Bless). It's a must-read for anyone interested in air pollution, global warming, alternative energy uses and ultimately an energy solution for the mother earth.
Recent cancellation of play due to bad light even in midday at the Chittagong Test between India and Bangladesh reminded me of the Asian Brown Cloud (ibid, pp. 25-27). A team of over 250 scientists from the US, Europe and India completed a study in 1999 and what they found was stunning. For at least a few months every year, a brown haze hangs over most of South Asia, from Afghanistan in the west to south of Japan. This part of the world is home to about three billion people (half the world population) and industrialising rapidly but using old-fashioned, highly polluting technology. This two-mile thick haze is not only hazardous to health but scatters sunlight, reducing evaporation, leading to less rainfall and its cleansing effect. A large part of the haze comes from millions of people burning wood and cow dung for cooking.
Climate change? It's no longer an area of interest for the nerds. Wake up! Smell the coffee. Gone are the days when winter months used to be sunny most of the times in this part of the world.
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