Four-wheel-driving causing dust storms
Recreational four-wheel-drive excursions into the world’s desert areas are threatening health and could be effecting climate change by contributing to dust levels in the atmosphere.
That is the conclusion of an Oxford academic who has measured a ten-fold increase in dust over the last 50 years, and who has labelled the phenomenon as “Toyotarisation”.
The Daily Telegraph reports that Andrew Goudie has been studying the Bodele depression, in Chad, is predicting that dust storms could become a serious issue in the Mediterranean region – and much of the problem is being caused by four-wheel-drive vehicles.
The newspaper quotes the professor as saying: “Dust is one of the least understood components of the Earth’s atmosphere. In deserts across the world, formerly stable surfaces have been breached by the use of four-wheel-drive vehicles, especially in the southern Sahara and the Middle East.
“Add to this the dune buggy fiends in America and elsewhere, and we have a significant cause of dust pollution. Dust is a problem of far greater severity than people realise. We could soon see the Dust Bowl disaster happening again. Wind erosion could become a serious problem in Spain, Corsica and Sardinia. We could see dust storms becoming a major problem around the Mediterranean.”
Report by Tim Gillett, News From Abroad
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