Beijing Air Pollution off the Charts

[Armand2REP]

 

[Armand2REP]

mods, change that to OFF please

 

[Ray]

I saw a photo in our newspapers of Chinese using what appears surgical masks because of the pollution in Peking.

WeiWei was wearing a gas mask!

Is it really that bad?

Maybe the severe winter is not letting the industrial gases to rise and dissipate, which is leading to the choking feeling.

 

[Armand2REP]

I saw a photo in our newspapers of Chinese using what appears surgical masks because of the pollution in Peking.

WeiWei was wearing a gas mask!

Is it really that bad?

Maybe the severe winter is not letting the industrial gases to rise and dissipate, which is leading to the choking feeling.

The readings were 755 which is far above lethal. It is like living in a coal fired power plant's smoke stack.

 

[Ray]

The readings were 755 which is far above lethal. It is like living in a coal fired power plant's smoke stack.

I presume that is the fallout of modernisation without taking into consideration of the social effect.

Poor chaps.

 

[Armand2REP]

I presume that is the fallout of modernisation without taking into consideration of the social effect.

Poor chaps.

I don't see how the people stand for it. Making a dollar an hour more to live in a toxic waste dump? No thanks!

 

[Ray]

I don't see how the people stand for it. Making a dollar an hour more to live in a toxic waste dump? No thanks!

They live and accept because they have been trained through history on the Theory of Legalism which emphasises that The State/ Monarch knows best what is good for the people.

A ruler should use the following three tools to govern his subjects:

Fa (Chinese: 法; pinyin: fǎ; literally "law or principle"): The law code must be clearly written and made public. All people under the ruler were equal before the law. Laws should reward those who obey them and punish accordingly those who dare to break them. Thus it is guaranteed that actions taken are systematically predictable. In addition, the system of law ran the state, not the ruler, a statement of rule of law. If the law is successfully enforced, even a weak ruler will be strong.

Shu (Chinese: 術; pinyin: shù; literally "method, tactic or art"): Special tactics and "secrets" are to be employed by the ruler to make sure others don't take over control of the state. Especially important is that no one can fathom the ruler's motivations, and thus no one can know which behavior might help them get ahead, other than following the 法, or laws.

Shi (Chinese: 勢; pinyin: shì; literally "legitimacy, power or charisma"): It is the position of the ruler, not the ruler himself or herself, that holds the power. Therefore, analysis of the trends, the context, and the facts are essential for a real ruler.

 

[amoy]

I don't see how the people stand for it. Making a dollar an hour more to live in a toxic waste dump? No thanks!

That's not only owing to "a dollar more", but also the terrain etc. etc.. The north suffers a lot.

Fortunately I'm on the greenest spot

 

[satish007]

France get to occupy Mali ASAP, or Chinese will go there. at least air is clean.

 

[s002wjh]

pollution in that area depend on the season. rainy season, the sky are pretty clear, winter is dry, also northern has less tree, and seem likely to trap the pollution compare to south

 

[Ray]

I was seeing some TV programmes.

It seems to be serious if the Chinese being interviewed are right.

 

[t_co]

I'm from Beijing. My relatives all live there. Nearly everyone has an indoor air filter and the damn things get clogged in the span of two days when the filters are supposed to last a week. It's insane.

The environmental chief of Beijing needs to be replaced over this, as Beijing's environmental policies/execution are obviously failing.

 

[sukhish]

I thought India was most pulluted, it seems china is our brother in this regard. India does not have even 1/8th of the industry what china has.

 

[amoy]

I'm from Beijing. My relatives all live there. Nearly everyone has an indoor air filter and the damn things get clogged in the span of two days when the filters are supposed to last a week. It's insane.

The environmental chief of Beijing needs to be replaced over this, as Beijing's environmental policies/execution are obviously failing.

Perhaps like many proposed China needs to relocate its capital like Brazilia. Beijing doesn't have many manufacturing sectors. I used to think Beijing was mainly affected by seasonal sand dust storms from Loess Plateau and the Mongolian Plateau.

 

[Daredevil]

Beijing Pollution 'Hazardous' For Fourth Day

Beijing has been in the grip of smoggy weather for four straight days, with air pollution reaching dangerous levels.10:11am UK, Monday 14 January 2013

Sunrise in Beijing on Monday revealed a marginally clearer skyline, but pollution remains at levels considered 'hazardous' for a fourth consecutive day.

According to an air quality monitor on the roof of the American Embassy in the Chinese capital, the Air Quality Index (AQI) at 8am was 406. Anything above 300 is considered 'hazardous'.

One father standing with other concerned parents at the gates of Yong'anli Primary School in central Beijing told Sky News: "I'm very worried.

"The air is so dirty that we must wear face masks, otherwise all these particles go into our nose and lungs - that's very bad for our children's health."

Another said: "I'm worried. There are too many cars,on the roads every day. The car fumes pollute the air we breathe."

One grandmother, who was dropping off her grandson, she said she could not remember pollution levels so high in her many years living in Beijing.

She said: "The air pollution has never been this bad, look at the roads now, so many cars, so much pollution, and so many people."

According to the World Health Organisation, levels of the smallest pollution particles, called PM2.5, should not be more than 25 micrograms (mcg). At levels of 100mcg, the air is considered unhealthy.

But according to the Beijing Municipal Environment Monitoring Centre, on Saturday the figure rose to above 900mcg in several parts of the city. PM2.5 particles are small enough to enter the lungs and the blood stream and are considered particularly dangerous.

The Chinese government only started to publish its own air quality figures in early 2012 but many believe there is still a level of denial at an official level about the scale of the problem. The official Chinese air quality reading is frequently lower than the US Embassy figure.

However, levels over the weekend made it hard for the state-run media to ignore the problem.

"The foreign media is laughing at us. I agree with their laughter," said Hu Xijin, the editor of the state-run Global Times newspaper on Weibo, China's version of Twitter.

"This is a warning to the Government and Beijing's citizens. We have to think about what kind of modernisation we want and how to manage it."

Discussion of the problem and criticism of the government was widespread on internet forums, including Weibo.

"I call for the cancellation of all cars except for family use and special use. We should all use public transport, and the officials should do so to set examples to ordinary people," one user wrote.

"It must be heavy pollution here in Beijing. I heard 50% of cancer patients in Beijing are lung cancers, the dirty air must be largely responsibility," another wrote.

"I suddenly got a fever last night. It must be because of the air pollution. Now my throat really hurts, and I can't even breath outside. How could I carry on living??!!" said another.

Throughout the weekend on Beijing's streets it was hard to see more than around 150m. The skyscrapers which dominate parts of the city were barely visible.


The Chinese authorities have urged people to use public transport
Yu Jianhua, from the Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau, said the current weather conditions have been preventing the smog from dispersing.

"Beijing has got warmer and wetter. We are facing large quantities of polluting emissions and they are not diffusing very quickly. The air is severely polluted," he said.

The slightly improved visibility on Monday might partly be due to an order to shut certain factories around the city. Wind levels have increased and the temperature has dropped, which will also help disperse the blanket.

According to the state news agency, Xinhua, 28 construction sites have stopped work, the Beijing Hyundai Motor Company has stopped work and Beijing Cement Plant Company has shut down one production line.

Authorities have been urging people to use public transport rather than their own vehicles to reduce emissions but even Beijing's underground network is affected. The smog was visible hanging in the air at a number of station platforms on Saturday.

Last year, the Chinese government asked the American Embassy not to publish the figures from its monitor. The Americans refused, insisting that the information was for the benefit of its personnel.

US spokesman Nolan Barkhouse told Sky News: "By recording pollution and publishing the results we are providing members of the mission community and the broader American community in China with information so that they can make better daily decisions about their outdoor activities."

The health implications from the pollution may be obvious, but there is an important political dimension to the issue too. China's Communist Government is unelected. Of the thousands of daily protests around the country, a significant proportion are linked to environmental concerns.

If the public perception is that the local and central government is not tackling the issues, it could present one of a number of challenges for the Communist Party.

Beijing Pollution 'Hazardous' For Fourth Day

 

[ganesh177]

Just to compare how bad is it i thought of finding out it in my city, and surprisingly for me its very low. Pune is known to have max numbers of vehicles in india.
Even mumbai is so damn low compared to beijing

Pune 71
Mumbai 83
India 75

 

[LurkerBaba]

Beijing air pollution hits 'hazardous' level
Flights were cancelled and factories shut down as industrial smog reduced visibility to 100 metres.[/B]

Fine air pollution was at "hazardous" levels, according to the American embassy's Twitter feed. Peak levels of PM2.5 — microscopic particulate matter that can embed deep into the lungs and pose a serious health risk — were 526 micrograms per cubic metre over a 24-hour period, according to the embassy's monitoring station in Beijing. The level recommended by the World Health Organization is just 25 micrograms per cubic metre.

Exposure to PM2.5 pollution can lead to cardiovascular and lung disease, and increases the risk of cancer.

http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2...es_as_pollution_hits_beyond_index_levels.html

 

[W.G.Ewald]

A colleague of mine had a project in China with the US EPA, largely directed towards getting Chinese to not cook indoors with coal fires improperly vented. His name was Robert S. Chapman, MD. I am searching Google Scholar for some of his publications.

[Edit]

Results of Google Scholar search:

http://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&q=robert+s+chapman+coal+china&btnG=&as_sdt=1,34&as_sdtp=

 

[Dovah]

Beijing Air Pollution.

 

[Mad Indian]

Signs of industrialization and urbanization on full speed. Kudos China:thumb: