Chinese Provinces Fight Over Cloud Seeding
Hey, speaking of water debates, how’s this one for weirditude? In China — large sections of which are parched by persistent drought — the practice of cloud “seeding” is causing some truly 21st century water disputes. Cloud seeding involves using planes, special guns, and rockets (!) to spur the growth of clouds and, subsequently, boost rainfall. But some towns are accusing neighbors of overusing this rain-generating technology and leaving less of a sprinkle for others. Zhoukou, for instance, is pretty ticked off at Pingdingshan. Sun Boyang, a weather legal expert (!) from the Henan Meteorological Bureau, says that the budding controversy demonstrates the need for national rules on cloudsploitation. Of course, he didn’t actually use the word “cloudsploitation.” We made that up. We love this story!
