Olympic trials: The locusts of control

A locust swarm worries Chinese officials ahead of Olympics

Posted by Sara Barz at 12:40 PM on 04 Jul 2008

Read more about: Olympics | China | severe weather | wildlife | sports

Officials in the Northern Chinese province of Inner Mongolia have mobilized 33,000 people to stop a swarm of locusts 267 miles outside of Beijing. Concerned that the locust swarm may descend on Beijing during the Olympic Games, the regional government has set aside 4 million yuan for pesticides and large-scale spraying machinery. As of July 2, the swarm had infested 5,000 square miles.

"The larvae are in the hatching stage in the counties and cities near Beijing, Gao Wenyuan, of the Inner Mongolia's grassland office, told the Xinhua news agency, as reported by Bloomberg. "The plague is becoming more apparent."

Yesterday Xinhua reported (Google English translation) that the regional government has 200 tons of pesticides in reserve, four aircraft, 50 new large-scale aerosol sprayers, and thousands of small-scale sprayers to combat the locusts.

"We are aware and we're coordinating with the relevant authorities to look into the issue," said Sun Weide, a Beijing Games organizing committee spokesman, in the Bloomberg article.

Abnormal weather has played a silent role in the biblical tide of catastrophes to plague China in the run-up to the Olympics. Warmer than average weather in Southern China, combined with stormy seas and "nutrient-rich" waters gave rise to the algae bloom in the bay of Qingdao.

For story: Olympic trials: The locusts of control
4 Comments | Post a Comment

Get those heathens jebus!

That'll larn them devils. Too bad falwell can't be around to enjoy this. Or do they have basic cable down there? Hehey.

http://amazngdrx.blogharbor.com/blog John Schneider, Northern Wisconsin

by amazingdrx at 11:50 PM on 04 Jul 2008

So It Is Written...So It Shall Be Done!

Looks like swarming locusts are self-eliminating:

http://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S21/02/63A06/

Since ancient times, locust plagues have been viewed as one of the most spectacular events in nature. In seemingly spontaneous fashion, as many as 10 billion critters can suddenly swarm the air and carpet the ground, blazing destructive paths that bring starvation and economic ruin.
What makes them do it?
A team of scientists led by Iain Couzin of Princeton University and including colleagues at the University of Oxford and the University of Sydney believes it may finally have an answer to this enduring mystery.
"Cannibalism," said Couzin, an assistant professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at Princeton.

by jabailo at 12:59 AM on 05 Jul 2008

Locust Swarms Due To Agriculture?

Just asking.

In case anyone hasn't noticed, the host country of the Olympics, always cause serious environmental and ecological harms just to hold the event. The idea -- bringing people from different cultures together to play games and hopefully create a friendly atmosphere between the cultures -- is a noble one, but the motorized travel and nationalistic formats combined with the environmental and ecological destruction caused by the modern Olympics mean that this is just another activity whose time has long past.

by Wolverine at 10:46 AM on 05 Jul 2008

"That'll larn them divils!"

Right, and so is the excellent suggestion of John Bailo regarding, finally, cannibalism.

Yum! Haunch of pole-vaulter! Whoa!

One of the great disappointments of the latest big competitive events is that flesh is hidden, for high-tech reasons. The more they do that, the more they may as well let Data compete.

Meanwhile: Good luck to those grasshopper kids, but que' sera' sera'.

Chickens deserve our true friendship! So do fish! So do other sentient beings! Let us learn to be kind.

by caniscandida at 1:48 PM on 06 Jul 2008

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