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Subscribe to RSSChinese are growing more outspoken about the "fog," now accurately calling it "smog," covering cities like Beijing.
BEIJING—While China’s chief climate negotiator is getting rock star treatment at the Durban climate summit this week, his peers back in the capital are suffering a third straight day of foul air.
As a leading Canadian newspaper put it, China provided “the few glimmers of hope at the stalled negotiations” in Durban, where "photographers and television journalists swarmed around the chief Chinese negotiator, Xie Zhenhua, as he entered a news conference on Monday to announce his list of conditions for considering a legally binding treaty on carbon emissions after 2020."
It seems that despite being the world's biggest carbon emitter, China could be the key to a deal on a legally binding agreement to reduce emissions.
However, not many glimmers of hope could be spotted back home.
From the China Daily website
A grid image posted on the China Daily newspaper showing the dramatic changes in air quality in Beijing in the past four days.
A persistent 'fog'
The Chinese state-run print media all ran headline stories Tuesday morning on the persistent "fog" that has blanketed Beijing and parts of the country’s northeast since the weekend. (See video above of the "hazardous" level of smog on Monday).
Much of the coverage focused on the hundreds of flights cancelled at the Beijing Capital International airport—the world’s second busiest hub—or the rising and very vocal concerns about air pollution. Some local reports referred to sales of air filter masks and air filter machines spiking in the past week.
Still more reports tried to cast the air pollution issue as one of sovereignty. "The heavy fog or smog that has shrouded Beijing in the past couple of days has triggered a renewed round of debate over the different air pollution standards applied by China and the United States," said an opinion piece in the Global Times, a state-run newspaper with a strong nationalist overtone.
But at least these same newspapers are now calling it "smog" rather than "fog," as they were just a day ago. The China Daily, another state-run newspaper, ran a headline on page 3 crying, "Exposure to smog is severe hazard." Later in the day, the paper’s web site posted four stark images of the same location showing changes in air visibility. (See photo above). The images are pretty staggering.
Only 13 days of 'good' air this year so far
And as we write this, the ever-trusty and ever-reliable @BeijingAir Twitter feed has been down five hours, prompting followers to wonder whether the pollution has finally gotten to the air quality index monitor that lives on top of the U.S. Embassy in Beijing.
Post by @TomVandeWeghe
An image of an iPhone app circulating on Twitter this afternoon, showing the @BeijingAir monitor out of commission.
A sobering analysis of the @BeijingAir feed can be found in this post by China Dialogue, which notes that the improvements in air quality claimed by officials at the Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau "are due to irregularities in the monitoring and reporting of air quality – and not to less polluted air."
Moreover, based on the analysis using the @BeijingAir data, this year there have only been 13 days of "good" air quality.
Buried further amidst the quantitative data was one more alarming point: "…if Beijing’s fine particulate concentration even reached the polluted levels of Los Angeles, life expectancy may increase by over five years."
We at NBC News Beijing are trying to claw back a few months to our life span. We have just taken delivery of two air filter machines for the bureau.
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This the USA without the EPA. Where are the Repubs saying this looks beautiful. That smog is what you want.
Ahhhh, smell the free market capitalism of China. If only our industries could pollute American cities half as much as China, you would see full-employment return...mainly from killing off the weak. Not that any of our industrial CEOs would want to live there, but they just can't say enough about the Chinese marketplace.
I guess we should mandate that any company that wants to sell products made in China here in the US, must first require that the CEO and all of the other company big shots spend 6 months to a year living in China's most polluted city, drinking their water, breathing their air and living in the same dwellings as their lowest paid workers.
We can also send Mr. Obama and any other politician that fails to stop China's unfair trade practices to live along side the CEOs, etc.... Then we can send in the people from MSNBC to give us periodic updates on how they are doing health wise, etc..
I see MSN has a new list out of the 15 best places to live.....my guess is that we'll see the Idled-rich flocking to those cities in an attempt to out-run the pollution. Will they ever realize it's killing them also?
Neal
getting out of the WTO would be my first step if i were king. you got to start somewhere with the boycott. once you get the final assembly in china stopped, and it moves somewhere like say south carolina, then the components coming to south carolina are labeled with "made in china", maybe by then the DC pinheads have some tarriffs in place and we get a snowball effect and a middle class back in our country, making stuff we want to buy. it only took 20-30 years to move it all over there, why not bring it back?
I agree with you, but the problem is getting it back. The loose/non-existant environmental laws are only part of the reason that the factories moved to China. The main reason was the cheap labor and to get the factories back will mean de-unionization in this country which I do not see happening, ever. Otherwise we will just chase the factories to some other cheap labor/no environmental protection country.
Smog = Smoke + Fog
China: close enough
Yeah, except in China there is no fog in the smog.
After living in Beijing for 3 months this summer, I can tell you that I loved experiencing their beautiful culture, living in such a historic city, and meeting exceptionally kind and welcoming people. I can also tell you that had it not been for the intolerable amount of pollution in the city, we would have stayed longer; possibly for many years to come. For nearly half the time, I was sick with upper-respiratory issues that persisted even a month after we returned to the States. Some days, I couldn't see the CCTV tower from my window, then other days I would be able to see the mountains in the distance. The variance was peculiar and alarming on those hazy days. Spitting my phlegm nearly every 15 minutes became the norm because, well, I had no other choice and then realized why everyone else living there practiced the same behavior. Beijing is attempting to decrease the pollution by limiting the number of cars that can drive in a day and by improving their transit system. While the bus and subway are excellent ways to get around, many people still choose to drive cars simply for the luxury of it. Limiting the number of cars that can drive in a day, based on the letter of your license plate (A-G can drive Mondays, H-N can drive Tuesdays, etc) is flawed because many families own multiple vehicles with different license plate letters anyway. That being said, the pollution didn't affect my husband one iota, but that doesn't mean that the effects aren't long-lasting, and for researches cancer for a living, I could not subject myself, my husband, and our future child(ren) to that level of pollution, no matter how much we fell in love with the country and people of China. If we move to China, it will have to be to another city than Beijing until this issue is resolved (which I expect won't be in our lifetime).
From other posts here, there are no major cities in China without this problem, so sorry to say I do not see you moving to China at all.
You can't expect the Chinese to put controls on things such as pollution, safety and production standards and to increase wages and benefits to the levels that allow someone to actually earn a decent living while enjoying good health, if they did that they would begin to compete on a level playing field with other countries and their products wouldn't be as cheap.
In order to get the Chinese to admit the truth; Al Gore flew over there on his Gulf Stream V and water boarded those eco terrorists - Thanks Mr. Gore
Both of you are correct!!! Let's find away to not let China destroy the environment.
There is a way, but our politicians refuse to take it. Stop trading with them until they start utilizing well recognized pollution, production and safety standards along with wages/benefits that actually allow someone to live a decent, healthy life.
The author of this report did not really understand the four photos from the China Daily, because the author does not know how to read Chinese. See, this is the problem of American journalists on China, they don't do their basic homework: Learning Chinese.
Actually, if you can read Chinese, you will find that on the upper-right photo the pollution index published by Beijing Environmental Protection Agency is 96, the air quality is "Fine". This is on 2011 Dec. 3rd. But on the lower-left photo you can find that on the next day (2011 Dec. 4th), the same index is 71, much lower than 96, and the air quality is still "Fine". However, since all these photos were taken at the same location and almost the same time every day, bare eyes can tell Dec. 4th is a much more polluted day than Dec. 3rd. Therefore, the comparison of two photos makes the index published by the Beijing EPA look stupid and absurd.
I think a hidden intention of China Daily report of these 4 photos is to smash the lie of Beijing EPA and reveal to the world their zero credibility. Unfortunately, the author of this report on MSNBC did not understand this point and missed the very humor, sarcasm, and revealing power of the 4 photos published on the original China Daily report. Actually Chinese journalists and writers have long traditions to fight dictatorship and corruption with hidden agendas in their published work. This is the only way for them to survive the dark force of suppression.
Visit talesoftwonations.blogspot.com to know more about China.
ill tell you right now if the repubs, who want no regulation on anything, even in the midst of the economic meltdown that almost took down the world get into office in 2012 China's smog will be nothing compared to the smog in this country. not only smog but lack of health-care, coal pollution and mine disasters, nuclear accidents, wall street abuses, bank abuses, the blocking of green energy projects by oil and coal companies, and disasters like in the gulf of Mexico. but the one thing that the repubs will demand rules and regulations on is the massive waste of money, resources and time on the ludicrous "war on drugs."
So the Republicans don't want regulation on anything? Can you give me one example of any Republican who has ever even mentioned that? What Republicans would actually like is to have regulatory agencies responsible to Congress (or anyone for that matter) and make sure that the rules and regulations they are putting in place make environmental AND business sense. Can anyone honestly say that it's a good idea to not drill for our own oil? Or our own coal? Or are wind and solar? But the environmental movement has stopped ALL of these energy options. We can't do a huge solar farm in the middle of the California desert because of the enviro wackos because it infringes on the "whatever tiny animal" might have one day lived there and certainly doesn't have the intelligence to move a few feet away. Just don't ever mention "jobs" to me because I know you don't care at all about jobs. The times they are a changing though, Good Night Obama.
This is what happens when the EPA drives away US industry with rediculus regulations. It would be much better to work with industry to produce regulations that are cost effective and still an improvement to environmental standards and keep the work here than it is to chase them away to countries where there is no control at all.
When will the US start limiting imports based on the environmental records of the companies that produce the goods?
When we can convince the WTO that doing so is not a trade war.
It is such a shame that the US has degraded to the point where we have to grovel at the feet of the WTO, WMF, OPEC, EU and a plethora of other organizations with acronyms for names.
Of course when we have a president that bows to a Saudi King and Japaneese Emperor what should we expect but shame.
If this now the benchmark of a super power how far we have fallen. Kind of like weddings at McDonalds.
Do not worry, the government officials are usually not in Beijing. For communist government, they care about their power of the country, not the environment or people.
Maybe now China realizes its problem and will be more willing to work with other countries on an envirnmoental treaty. An then we in the US wont have an excuse not to participate!
China have over 1.5 billions people so if 100 millions of its residents died from smog is not a big deal to the Chinese government.
china, should go back to its roots and lay off the industry. they have beautiful cultures that are thousands of years old. being western isn't that great, its kind of stupid, i mean look at america. we've put material things ahead of customs and cuisines.
if they do have industry, they should clean it up.
money is nothing without people
Susan,
That sounds so nice, just "lay off the industry", what planet are you living on!!!!! This in not a theoretical, academic world, this is real life and they must find a way to feed, clothe, and employ over a billion people, and your response is to "lay off the industry?" Did you even think before you wrote this? Jeez, you liberals and your "feel good" solutions are just moronic.
After living in Beijing for 3 months this summer, I can tell you that I loved experiencing their beautiful culture, living in such a historic city, and meeting exceptionally kind and welcoming people. I can also tell you that had it not been for the intolerable amount of pollution in the city, we would have stayed longer; possibly for many years to come. For nearly half the time, I was sick with upper-respiratory issues that persisted even a month after we returned to the States. Some days, I couldn't see the CCTV tower from my window, then other days I would be able to see the mountains in the distance. The variance was peculiar and alarming on those hazy days. Spitting my phlegm nearly every 15 minutes became the norm because, well, I had no other choice and then realized why everyone else living there practiced the same behavior. Beijing is attempting to decrease the pollution by limiting the number of cars that can drive in a day and by improving their transit system. While the bus and subway are excellent ways to get around, many people still choose to drive cars simply for the luxury of it. Limiting the number of cars that can drive in a day, based on the letter of your license plate (A-G can drive Mondays, H-N can drive Tuesdays, etc) is flawed because many families own multiple vehicles with different license plate letters anyway. That being said, the pollution didn't affect my husband one iota, but that doesn't mean that the effects aren't long-lasting, and for researches cancer for a living, I could not subject myself, my husband, and our future child(ren) to that level of pollution, no matter how much we fell in love with the country and people of China. If we move to China, it will have to be to another city than Beijing until this issue is resolved (which I expect won't be in our lifetime).
Oh what a surprise!Biggest polluters and Human rights abusers on the Planet!Oh what a surprise.
The last time China got concerned over pollution was just before and during the Olympics. Now that is over...business as usual. They start up more new coal plants in one month, than we attempted permits for over the last decade. Gotta keep punching out those cheap products to America!
Maybe this is both the answer and demise of China. Millions who can't work due to chronic emphysema.
Wow! Is China going to have one of those darn EPA agencies trying to regulate air quality. That won't be good for industry. To h___l with those people who can't breathe and are having respiratory problems. Those Republicans would straighten them out. At least they have jobs with their COPD. Right!
Is this the very same Communist Red China that Obama the great says we are falling behind of? Is this the very same Communist Red China that are building energy efficient power planets and are reducing the number of coal fired planets? Is this the very same Communist Red China that has a high-speed rail from one side of the country to the other that is a clean mode of transportation? Can any of this be true? Has Obama been talking about this very same Communist Red China? Of course not, we are all wrong and Obama is right. We have a freaking idiot in the White House that has lied so much that he believes himself. Time for this fool to hit the road and take his believers with him.
LOL Smokie! You are completely correct. Well Done!
Does anyone think we're not protecting our environment now? Can anyone tell me why we can't drill for our own oil in this country giving Americans jobs and creating a larger tax base? I don't want to hear any liberal talking about "jobs" unless they are serious about actually creating them!!!!
i think they should solve their own problems and we should solve ours
The minds of dictators speak for their country,but the people fear to disagree!
Nice to see an unbiased, truthful report about the Real China by MSNBC and this reporter Adrienne Mong, in particular. So often their stories merely scrape the surface on the pernicious truths of the Mainland and provide a hopeful or cute or happy ending, seemingly in the interest of saving face for the Homeland.