a preview of pleasures to come

Did you see the pictures of algae at Qingdao? Five thousand square miles of green gunk clogging up the sailing venue for the coming Olympics. It is the type of green that most of us can do without. If nothing else, the Beijing Olympics will show the West what is about to happen to our planet if we keep wasting energy the way we do now. China is the proverbial canary in the coal mine.

Take a look at this picture from the guardian of London.

That's a man standing in the waves, in case you didn't recognize it.

While graphic it is by no means the only evidence of pollution in China. I could add pictures of Beijing's famous smog, but there is nothing to see there but gray haze. China is a country that is so polluted, it gives the word pollution a whole new meaning.

And the Chinese response ? Mobilizing the population to go out and fish up the green stuff. It is reminiscent of the days of Mao Zhedong. Fortunately, the Chinese have lots of people they can put to work. Unfortunately, this is only a temporary measure and once the Olympics are over and eyes focus elsewhere, the Chinese will continue to do what they have been doing all along: pollute more and more quickly. And to make matters worse, they have virtually unlimited coal resources and an equally inexhaustible desire to put these to work.

Hello, brave new world.