If a butterfly flaps its wings in Shanghai will there be a tornado in San Francisco?
The idea that one butterfly could eventually have a far-reaching ripple effect on subsequent historic events seems first to have appeared in a 1952 short story by Ray Bradbury about time travel.
A 1963 paper for the New York Academy of Sciences noting that "One meteorologist remarked that if the theory were correct, one flap of a seagull’s wings could change the course of weather forever." Later speeches used the more poetic butterfly.
At the 139th meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1972, a paper was presented: "Does the flap of a butterfly’s wings in Brazil set off a tornado in Texas."
Now the U.S. Department of Energy research shows eastern China’s air pollution during the past 50 years has reduced the amount of light rainfall by 23%.
The study’s results, officials said, suggest bad air quality might be affecting that country’s ability to raise crops, as well as contributing to health and environmental problems.
The study, led by atmospheric scientist Yun Qian at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, links for the first time high levels of air pollutants with conditions that prevent the light kind of rainfall that is critical for agriculture. The research appears in the Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres and is reported in UPI.
Yun Qian said, "People have long wondered if there was a connection, but this is the first time we’ve observed it from long-term data. Besides the health effects, acid rain and other problems that pollution creates, this work suggests that reducing air pollution might help ease the drought in north China."
The writer was brought up in the mining valleys of Wales, which were totally polluted and the sun rarely seen. As a result, the writer has rickets. But does it rain, light, medium, heavy, in Wales? Yes. Incessantly.