More Eco-Trouble
Kim du Toit
May 6, 2008
10:00 AM CDT
Funny, I had no idea that Al Gore visited Chile last week:
Chilean volcano Chaiten spewed lava and blasted ash 12 miles into the sky today, prompting officials to order a total evacuation of nearby area.
More than 4,000 people have already fled since the volcano in Patagonia sprang to life on Thursday, but today provincial governor Fernando Aguilar ordered 280 more to leave immediately.
Witnesses reported hearing immense noises like groans coming from the volcano.
“The situation has changed suddenly,” said a spokesman for Chile’s national emergency office. “Today the volcano is erupting with pyroclastic material on a different scale.”
The five-day eruption already has sent a column of ash streaming across the narrow southern stretch of the continent and over the Atlantic.
The EU is considering whether to fine Chile for causing such tremendous pollution.
On a more serious note: puts the whole “pollutant” business in perspective, doesn’t it? That single eruption—and it’s not done yet—must have sent millions of tons of particulates into the air, far more than produced by, oh China in the past couple of years.
Still doesn’t match the amount of hot air spewed into the air by the U.S. Senate in any given session, however.
