China's coal fires belch fumes, worsening global warming

[knocker]

RUJIGOU, China — The barren hillsides give a hint of the inferno underfoot. White smoke billows from cracks in the earth, venting a sulfurous rotten smell into the air. The rocky ground is hot to the touch, and heat penetrates the soles of shoes.

 

Beneath some rocks, an eerie red glow betrays an unseen hell: the epicenter of a severe underground coal fire.

 

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2008/11/17/55758/chinas-coal-fires-belch-fumes.html

 

An update.

 

http://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/fires-in-china-oct-18-2013/#.UmFMtXdki-0

Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2008/11/17/55758/chinas-coal-fires-belch-fumes.html#storylink=cpy

 

And just as a matter of interest the longest burning coal fire is 6000 thousand years.

 

http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowUserReviews-g2413559-d2409053-r121237553-Burning_Mountain_Nature_Reserve-Wingen_New_South_Wales.html

[joggs]

Well im not gonna feel guilty burning a few coals on my firepit lol.

[4wd]

I'm mystified why the propagandists suddenly decided to play on this as a CO2 source when it would have been burnt anyway.The main issue is the waste when it could have been used properly. It is a coal mine after all.The continual 'research' and reporting on everything which can conceivably be given a global warming spin is now a significant cottage industry; propagated without question by the drones. 

[Methuselah]

Can't see any reason why anyone should feel 'mystified', 4...Do you suggest a wholesale return to Victorian 'values' - what folks don't know about can't hurt them?

[knocker]

You are not far off the mark regarding Chinese coal mining and Victorian values Pete. Impossible to get an accurate figure but 4000 deaths a year for coal miners wouldn't be that far out.

[Methuselah]

Indeed Malcolm...Which makes me wonder if the Political Elite's efforts to curtail Internet freedom aren't part of the Right Wing's determination to throttle the flow of information?

[laserguy]

Worsening global warming? Can't say as I've noticed. We need to get as much CO2 into the atmosphere as we possibly can, so the whole crapola CO2/global warming nonsense can be truly put to bed.

[4wd]

 4...Do you suggest a wholesale return to Victorian 'values' - what folks don't know about can't hurt them?

What does that have to do with spinning an underground fire which has been burning for years into a CO2 problem?The coal would be burned anyway and the same amount of CO2 would be released if they were able to dig it out.

[Methuselah]

What about all this 'clean' coal-burning technology, then? Does that work underground?