Deforestation, the Gobi Desert and Me

My Mazda, just back from it's tour of duty.

For the past week Hokkaido has been buffeted by strong westerly winds which have brought with them vast amounts of airborne sand. This phenomenon is known as 黄砂 (kousa), literally 'yellow sand'. It originates in northern China and Mongolia where the sand is picked up by a passing low pressure system which then travels east over Korea and Japan coating everything in its path a golden yellow. Repeated tree and plant degradation (which is a polite way of saying the feckin Chinese chopped down or uprooted everything green) means there is nothing to stop the topsoil being, as Bono would put it, 'blown by the wind'. Unfortunately, the resulting dust cloud doesn't 'disappear without a trace', but ends up falling on my car.
This is bloody annoying as I then have to wash my car.
I don't particularly like washing my car as (a) it's boring; and (b) it just gets dirty again the next time the wind shifts around and starts blowing from the west again. Rain only makes things worse as it leaves big splattery splotches of mustard colored sand over everything. My poor Mazda looks like it has belatedly returned from active duty in 'Operation Desert Storm'.
To try and do our bit and prevent this from happening every spring, myself and Cian went down to our local garden centre, got some grass seed, put it in an envelope and sent it off to the Chinese Embassy along with a helpful note asking them to spread over the land pretty much anywhere west of Beijing.
We have yet to hear back from them.

Somewhere out there beyond the yellow haze is the Pacific Ocean.