Yellow Dust

When it's that time of the year, the Asian mainland sends a stinging, almost angry flow through the air. But instead of a Red Menace, it comes in the form of Yellow Dust. Now, this same yellow dust comes from a region called the "Loess Plateau" that is responsible for a lot of the fertility of the lands to the east of it, including Korea and Northern China. Indeed the same "yellow" in the Yellow River is that very dust, dissolved and deposited in floods across the North China Plain.

What makes yellow dust such a problem is that now, instead of being something of a minor eye/respiratory irritant as it has been for time immemorial, this dust carries with it a host of little problems that may soon turn into much larger ones. The wikipedia article goes into far more depth, but suffice to say the pollutants and microorganisms borne by the dust are fast becoming a major cost and hazard to the South Koreans, and even at times the Japanese.

What does this have to do with me? While I don't have a side-by-side set of photos to show the difference between a dust-free day and I day with heavy yellow dust, it means that visibility goes down a lot and that being in western South Korea is hazardous to your health, despite the pollution problems here being far less pervasive as the South Koreans come to realize that moderate, thoughtful environmental regulations are an important part of keeping your democracy thriving. Essentially it's like the air over East Asia is a swimming pool, and the Chinese have declared their area a "pissing section" (to carry over the metaphor from the anti-smoking-section argument.)

More posts to follow on less politicized topics as I go out over the weekend and explore some more of the country.