Unbelievable photos of how bad Beijing’s air has gotten

Unbelievable photos of how bad Beijing’s air has gotten

www.washingtonpost.com...

Chinese children are being forced to stay inside and there’s been a spike in hospital visits as Beijing has clouded over with some of the worst smog in history. And now, we have an aerial representation of Beijing’s respiratory problems, courtesy of NASA.

(visit the link for the full news article)

Jan. 3



Jan. 14





Just Crazy.

Even if the rest of the World decided NOT to buy Chinese products, I still believe the Chinese would continue to pollute their Country.

I feel for those having to deal with this.

I don't know if I'm missing something, but what caused the outbreak between January 3rd and January 14th? The difference is astounding.

From the source you provided:

At the time that the Jan. 14 image was taken, ground-based sensors at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing reportedly found levels of the smallest, most dangerous types of particulate matter, known as PM 2.5, at 291 micrograms per cubic meter of air. According to World Health Organization guidelines, any air with more than 25 micrograms of PM 2.5 per cubic meter is considered unsafe.

Unbelievable.

Recently I was in Costa Rica doing the zip-line thing in Monteverde. There was a tremendous amount of uphill hiking and stairs involved. It was funny (and sad) to see a young Chinese man half my age that "appeared" to be quite physically fit gasping and barely able to walk any longer.

I can only imagine the lack of endurance of anyone that lives in that level of pollution to be any good. They might have a big army but I bet my grandma could outrun them

Added: I used to recycle everything, then I realized with India and China there was little I could do that had a real effect on the world.

reply to post by angryhulk


I dont know.

Weather combination has to be a factor.

Its insane though.

That is awful.

Smart as their government is, why couldn't they propose a solution years ago. These people health are at major risk here.

The West has effectively not only exported Jobs to China but also our Manufacturing and Production air, water and soil pollution...

Think about it.

Originally posted by sylent6
That is awful.

Smart as their government is, why couldn't they propose a solution years ago. These people health are at major risk here.

they managed to contain it during the period of the Olympic games if you recall.

Pollution Control cost money. Wanna say good-bye to cheap goods? Just fix the air quality in China. Now imagine if the workers were paid a fair wage.......

Things come, things go, so do superpowers.

reply to post by Shema


Yes they did. Do you know how? They shut down manufacturing!

reply to post by SLAYER69



Do you think China would stop polluting, even if the West didn't buy products from that Country?

I don't.

British cities went through similar polluting stages during the industrial revolution. Guess its a bit hypocritical to start pulling the Chinese up on it.

It maybe their country, but its everyones planet.

reply to post by sonnny1


I think China is second only to the US in Burning Coal and Oil. They are already Saudi Arabia's largest oil customer and have already surpassed the US as the World's largest polluters.


Not necessarily a great ambition or category to overtake the US on but meh...

Before we all gallop away on our high horses maybe we should put the Chinese smog into context with our own smog?

Back in '52 an estimated 4000 people died in London during a few days of bad smog.

The smog became so thick and dense that by December 7 there was virtually no sunlight and visibility was reduced to five yards in many places. Eventually, all transportation in the region was halted, but not before the smog caused several rail accidents, including a collision between two trains near London Bridge. The worst effect of the smog, however, was the respiratory distress it caused in humans and animals, including difficulty breathing and the vomiting of phlegm.

L.A. was notorious for smog until recently as we can see in these images.

On some days, the air was so polluted that "parents kept their kids out of school; athletes trained indoors; citrus growers and sugar-beet producers watched in dismay as their crops withered; the elderly and young crowded into doctors' offices and hospital ERs with throbbing heads and shortness of breath."

In the West and Russia we've been living with smog for decades. China are in the same industrial age as we were in the past. Doesn't make it right but it does mean we need to be conscious of throwing stones from glass houses. Just like China right now, we used to put the economy way above the health of our people or the state of the environment.

I'm not sure how much blame China can be handed on this since they are literally playing catch up to what the world has already done before them. They're literally retracing the Industrial Revolutions, compressing the timeline by at least 50% and doing this all with a population 4x's what we have TODAY, let alone back when our nation went through the dirtiest decades of 'progress'.

Now I dearly wish China would have thought this out a bit better, but it's too late now. In the beginning, it seems to me, they could have used the lessons of hindsight by other nations and skipped the whole coal and icky period the rest of the world suffered through as trial and error to get to where we are now.....and so much further yet to go, eh?

Now though, they're dead smack in the middle of the 50's or 60's by relative comparison with the manpower and force of technology to leap a decade every 2-3 years of real time it seems. They'll be caught up to us in about 12 years at this rate.....but ..(cough cough) Good Lord... 40 equivalent years of learning pollution is a killer will BE a killer to so many, it's really a crime. Still..... How do you STOP once in the middle? If we knew that, we wouldn't still be well in the dirty phase ourselves.

reply to post by Kandinsky


Oh I agree.

We still need to do more in the United States.

Its a shame though that we have no problems "buying" our way into hurting this Planet. We are just as culpable as the Next Country. China's pollution problem, is everyone's to some degree.

reply to post by sonnny1
Agreed

In some ways we're like recovering alcoholics preaching to our offspring that it's bad to drink.

The message is bang on and the credibility is too low for them to hear it.

Originally posted by Kandinsky
reply to post by sonnny1

 

Agreed

In some ways we're like recovering alcoholics preaching to our offspring that it's bad to drink.

The message is bang on and the credibility is too low for them to hear it.

I feel for the Chinese People though. I don't think they could massively protest peacefully, for conditions to change.

I also believe the Chinese Government has not done enough.

Carbon Credits is not a problem solver. Just my humble Opinion.

Originally posted by sonnny1

Originally posted by Kandinsky
reply to post by sonnny1

 

Agreed

In some ways we're like recovering alcoholics preaching to our offspring that it's bad to drink.

The message is bang on and the credibility is too low for them to hear it.

I feel for the Chinese People though. I don't think they could massively protest peacefully, for conditions to change..

I have to agree there. I think we both recall the Tienanmen Square Massacre as a current event when it happened. I'm not sure anyone ever got a reliable count for how many the Chinese Government slaughtered in that Square after the lights went out for the media or anyone else who could record events. Just a whole lot of people that never came out of it again.

That's one of those key differences between our system and theirs, eh? Protesters here who go too far get arrested and cited. Protesters there get arrested and sent to re-education or just get shot outright.