Polar getaway for smog-weary rich Chinese

[Ray]

Polar getaway for smog-weary rich Chinese

Saibal Dasgupta

BEIJING: China's wealthy are making a beeline for the Antarctic.

The country's rich families are traveling and even buying houses in New Zealand, Australia and Spain because they want to get away from heavy smog and pollution in Chinese cities.

Tour operators are charging between $50,000 and $80,000 per person for such trips and took an estimated 3,000 Chinese tourists to the southern polar region in 2013. The number is expected to grow at least 40% this year, tour agencies say.

But these trips are causing anxiety among environmentalists who say that marine ships cause sea pollution while tour groups often frighten the birds. Tourists are known to smoke and leave behind food crumbs.

Chinese tour operators claim their customers follow regulations and respect the wildlife and environment. Many of the travelers are drawn by Chinese icebreaker Xue Long which recently carried out a rescue mission for stranded scientists from other countries.

"It's a dream for our whole family. The penguins, the snow, and the glaciers - it's all so beautiful. There's no noise. I could feel myself and my spirit," China Central Television quoted one of the travelers, Song Xiao'ai, as saying.

The Spring Festival holidays which has just ended saw a 30% increase in Chinese travelers in the UK, the U.S. and Australia as compared to the same period last year. Chinese tourists are known to particularly seek out pollution free locations with clear blue skies because they are tired by the environmental situation at home, tour operators said.

"Compared with last year the number of Chinese visitors rose by 30% during Spring Festival," said Kevin Shao of Omega Travel, one of the UK's leading travel.

Polar getaway for smog-weary rich Chinese - The Times of India

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One has heard about the high pollution that plagues China, but this indicates that the situation is real serious.

This is a hardship that I am sure, the remainder Chinese wilfully and maybe cheerfully bears since they are very patriotic about the modernisation leading to a better financially endowed life that gives them the freedom of binge shopping and surrounding themselves with creature comforts.

 

[Ray]

Forget gizmos, pollution from China heads to US

WASHINGTON: As Chinese firms are busy manufacturing and exporting cell phones, televisions and other electronic items to the world, the US is weary at the Chinese air pollution coming along, for free!

According to a significant study, Chinese air pollution blowing across the Pacific Ocean is often caused by the manufacturing of goods for export to the US and Europe.

"We've outsourced our manufacturing and much of our pollution, but some of it is blowing back across the Pacific to haunt us," said Steve Davis, an earth system scientist at University of California, Irvine.

"Given the complaints about how Chinese pollution is corrupting other countries' air, this paper shows that there may be plenty of blame to go around," he added.

The study is the first to suggest how much pollution reaching the American West Coast is from the production in China of electronic and other consumer items.

According to the study, Los Angeles experiences at least one extra day a year of smog that exceeds ozone limits because of nitrogen oxides and carbon monoxide emitted by Chinese factories making goods for export.

On other days, as much as a quarter of the sulfate pollution on the US West Coast is tied to Chinese exports, said the study that appeared in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

All the contaminants tracked in the study are key ingredients in unhealthy smog and soot, it added.

"When you buy a product at Wal-Mart, it has to be manufactured somewhere. The product does not contain the pollution, but creating it caused the pollution," said Davis.

The powerful global winds known as 'westerlies' can push airborne chemicals across the ocean in days, particularly during the spring, causing dangerous spikes in contaminants.

Dust, ozone and carbon can accumulate in valleys and basins in California and other Western states.

Black carbon is a particular problem. Like other air pollutants, it's been linked to several health problems, from increased asthma to cancer, emphysema, and heart and lung disease, the study noted.

China's huge ramp-up of industrial activity in recent years, combined with poor pollution controls, has unleashed often fierce international debates.

To reduce trans-boundary transport of air pollution, said the study, we need to effectively negotiate clean-air treaties.

Forget gizmos, pollution from China heads to US - The Times of India

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The US under attack by China!