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Subscribe to RSSIn Beijing, the smog is hazardous. ITV's Angus Walker reports.
BEIJING — Air quality in Beijing was the "worst on record" on Saturday and Sunday, according to environmentalists, with pollution 30-45 times above the recommended safety levels.
With a thick smog wrapping the Chinese capital since Friday, the city's pollution monitoring center warned the city's 20 million residents to stay indoors.
Data posted on Sunday by the monitoring center showed particulate matter measuring less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter (PM2.5) had reached more than 600 micrograms per square metre at some monitoring stations in Beijing, and was as high as 900 on Saturday evening.
The recommended daily level for PM2.5 is 20, according to the World Health Organisation. Such pollution has been identified as a major cause of asthma and respiratory diseases.
"This is really the worst on record not only from the official data but also from the monitoring data from the U.S. embassy — some areas in (neighboring) Hebei province are even worst than Beijing," said Zhou Rong, climate and energy campaigner at Greenpeace.
The Beijing Municipal Environmental Monitoring Center said heavy pollution had been trapped by an area of low pressure, making it harder to disperse, and the conditions were likely to last another two days.
Related: Beijing's pollution could cut 5 years off life span
Pollution has been identified as one of the biggest challenges facing China's leaders, with outgoing president Hu Jintao saying during his address to the Communist Party Congress last November that the country needed to "reverse the trend of ecological deterioration and build a beautiful China."
China said at the end of last year that it would begin releasing hourly pollution data for its biggest cities.
Beijing has already committed to a timetable to improve air quality in the city, and has relocated most of its heavy industry, but surrounding regions have not made the same commitments, said Zhou.
"For Beijing, cleaning up will take a whole generation but other regions don't even have any targets to cut coal burning. I bet the pollution here is mainly from those surrounding regions."
Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.
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The US has made China's economy thrive and China could care less about the environment. Our international air quality is going down hill which will effect the overall health of our planet. Who cares, just as long as we get more stuff from Walmart. No headway is being made by our existing adminstation in regards to global warming so get ready for worse weather than you can imagine.
Not just Wal-Mart, Costco, Home Depot, Lowes, etc., basically everyone.
redondo98-3116122---You must have one of those good government jobs and never got laid off from your job. The rest of the Nation has no other choice but to shop at Wal-Mart. The jobs market is slim and Obama hasn't helped in that department either. Even if they could buy somewhere else they would, more than likely, still buy from Wal-Mart. They have a lot of bargains there and some nice things. You had to vote for Obama, your comment sounds like something he would say.
.....I guess this means that there will be price reduced `travel packages' for those who want their pictures taken on the Great Wall.
"reverse the trend of ecological deterioration", lmao. What these backward morons need to do is reverse the nontrending of communision but these ignorant leaders are idiots,lol.
BTW, anyone is an idiot to buy anything with made in China written on it. I have learned my lesson by failing to look at the tags on products. Three "metal" patio benches and plant racks actually crumbled after 3-4 years because the scamsters in China evidently mixed sawdust with iron ore to make the sorry product. One was bought at Kmart and the other at Lowes.
Look at the bottom of your keyboard, where is that made?
Sadly I've found the opposite, I've gotten great reliable stuff, (including Dell and Apple products), from China and the few things I bought from US plants was junk. They lowered quality to compete on price, the same mistake the big three auto manufacturers made a few decades back.
Lets go back 3 to 4 decades, We had factories that polluted. I'm 47 and I can remember days we had rivers that were blue or red or what ever the color the flock was using. The paper factories dumped right into the rivers and smoke was bellowing out of all the tall stacks we had. There we days you couldn't put your laundry on the line especially the whites because of soot from these factories. Along came some college students who finally had enough and pressed our government to clean its act up. So they did and what we see today is way better than it was. People used to throw trash right out the window and the sides of roads and Highways were like a dump. We used to have open pit dumps as well. Its getting better every year here in the US thanks to some people who cared to safe safe drinking water and clean air. China is were we were 40 years ago. Once they start spending money to clean things up they wont be as competitive. Hopefully the Chinese people get fed up enough and protest. Our investment bankers will have to find other countries to exploit for cheap labor and lax environmental restrictions.
You were OK until you got to the investment bank propaganda. When the EPA makes it impossible to manufacure here you have no choice. I've worked for numerous corporations, oursourcing is always the last resort. It's a real PITA, half a world away, language differences, half a day away, etc.
B Jarvis---Hey Cap, We are better today than years back because we had very little idea of what can happen in our country. That's it we are better off but how far do you want to go? We can not afford an damn thing because we are broke. Add more regulations and that little check you take home now will continue to get smaller and smaller. You actually think that these bunch of dummies in Washington are worried about any of us.
We have problems all across this country and the main topic that is on the top of the list is gun control??? Really??? Freaking Gun Control, when everything we fought for is now $16 Trillion Dollars in the red? You better get another shot of vodka or something you are missing the big issue. We can clean our part of the world all we want and that will not help this planet out because no one else cares about it. The planet can take care of itself. It has done that for over 4.5 Billion Years.
At this moment we are experiencing five(5) major weather events. They are record setting events. That will make over 100 records that have been shattered in the last five years. Combine this with the "Super Storms" that promise to happen more and more, and I can see why some deny it is real. They are too embarrassed to admit the truth. That while your fear made you blind to the truth, some, clung to the possibility, you were right. Well now it is at a point where if we stopped burning fossil fuels completely, right now, it would barely make a difference over the next 50 years. So, the ignorant have done it again. Out screamed the "Treehuggers" and keep the whole world in peril. Hey, maybe it won't matter. They way we are going we may shoot each other before the planet gives us our just deserts.
I've found it's the shrill hand wringing and fear mongering that cause many deniers. When you go over the edge, many, rightly so, just shake their heads and walk away. The fear mongering is not supported by the raw data.
Another issue is global warming DOES have a natural component so at most we are hastening what nature is already doing. Some models point to fewer and more moderate storms, and indeed we have had fewer storms. Sandy was NOT global warming it was a rare confluence of a late summer storm and an early winter storm, it's happened before.
The problem is many zealots will claim weather when it doesn't suit their purpose and climate when it does. Again, people, rightly so, smell a rat when they read that.
The bottom line is, it is China and India, etc. that will determine the fate of our climate. Short of nuking them, you'll have to just deal with it. We are on the right track and going forward, they are on the wrong track and going forward.
Are you demanding the US do more? Start with yourself, how many solar panels do you own? What is in your driveway?
The results of American industrialization w/o any type of standards. Look real good people. See what all of that cheap junk we buy is doing to the air we breathe? At least hopefully, anyway, that overpopulated $hithole aka China will be the first to bite the dust because of it.
Our idea of us making them give their workers better working conditions in order for us to buy their products is.... to have them put cheap suicide prevention nets around the roof of the Apple products factory. So, they are stinking up the joint with smog.... who cares? Algore? Nope.
Wait until they start repossesing the U.S. Smog here we come... don't know how the liberal Obama supporters are going to justify that world. :-)
Consumerism, cheap labor and cheap currency may be bringing the Chinese economy up in the global context, but non-existent ethics and a total disregard for the environment will poison their most cherished dreams of progress.
In sight of their problems, the USA has to become aware that economic progress has to preserve the life-quality of our country. We just can not destroy it in the name of national, multi-national corporations and their stockholders, we have to think about our grandchildren...
If we cared about our grandchildren we'd reconstitute the EPA so it worked with industry to solve problems instead of trying to put them out of business. We wouldn't be enslaving them to China to the tune of over $1 trillion a year in deficits as far as the eye can see. We wouldn't put a sign in front of their schools announcing they are totally defenseless. We would replace our current entitlement mentality with a strong work ethic.
The Chinese should know better. Their government is just barking words. I guess they don't read other countries history.
Well Jackie Chan; The U.S. may be the most currupt but at least we don't have problems with air quality like that!
America is not the most corrupt.
Not even close.
I've lived in L.A. since the early 1960's and remember the thick smog v that engulfed us all everydayIt was very bad.I'll give praise to the elected officials of the day who proposed and had placed into law ,the guidelines that help clean the air.Not all those on the federal level but those on the state and city level also.Today,the elected officials in L.A. have their noses so far up the public employee union leadership asses,they can no longer see the needs of the rest of us
China is so corrupt that one day,the corruption will destroy it.The Communist party runs everything and the state leaders steal more than anyone else.They get into a bureau as head of it andsoon after start funneling money to theri family businesses.A country can only take so many hits hbefore it begins to affect the entire structure.China has so many layers of government,they make Washington DC look like an efficient operation.THe military has its' own structure,the communist party has a different structure,the government has another structure,private companies have their own mini government,it is a mess.This is one reason China has started being very ineffective in producing goods and products.WHole cities built with on one in them.Massive freeway systems built in the countryside where no one even owns cars.Ports with super capacity built when existing ports are not fully utilized.It will take China decades,if not longer, to begin to tackle this problem.
Anti-government tea partiers forget the days when we used to have this kind of air in L.A. Or maybe they never crawled out of their mountain hide-aways to experience it. But as someone who lives in a very large city, I'm very happy that we have government regulations to keep our air clean.
I went to Buenos Aires recently and was shocked by the way the air slaps you in the face when you come up off the subway. Not all government regulation is bad.
Another liberal liar heard from. The Tea Party is against the very crony capitalism that corrupts both government and corporations. Kerry, Gore, Pelosi, Reid, Obama, Buffet, Soros, Gates, are all progressives and all 1%'ers. They are the ones with the mountain top retreats.
True, not all government regulation is bad, but you completely ignore the fact that it is not all good either, and increasingly so.
Valhalla Phil; liberals need to cling to the image of all regulation hating, gun touting, wealthy, tax dodging, evil business owning, republicans so they can keep hating them & never listen to any point they bring up.
I don't know what I supposedly lied about. Any time someone proposes a new regulation to protect people or the environment from big companies, the right wing fights it tooth and nail with the excuse that it will "stifle business."
And the Chinese think they are going to over take the U.S. economically and militarily. Their own air quality resulting from unbridled industrial revolution and subsequent lack of concern for the environment may solve that treat for the U.S.
I wouldn't bet my life on it.
China may have the worst polluted air, water, food etc.. Most men there smoke, working conditions are terrible, farm and industrial accidents rampant, medical facilities marginal outside the cities. Is it not ironic that Chinese average life expectancy based on UN statiustics is only 3.4 years less than American life expectancy?
Diet
Most Chinese now eat at KFC and McDonalds on a regular basis as they know that the oil is not poision there and the food is reliable to eat.
Diet AND exercise. America has literally become fat, dumb, and lazy.
"ironic that Chinese average life expectancy based on UN statistics is only 3.4 years less than American life expectancy" because the earth spins them under our clean air, they then dirty it up with the US jobs they imported, and the world spins the polluted air to us.
Still got to wonder how taxing US businesses to reduce carbon emissions saves the planet when places like China take over industrial production due to the added costs in responsible countries.
Kind of like making church Ladies pay for strippers penicillin.
It is NOT just "pollution" and that "low front" holding it all down on you? Ya, that's also NOT a "low front" That is what we who are "awake & ready" call a CHEM TRAIL, other wise known as BIOENGINEERING. It has been going on a long time, not a secret. Public record & information is completely available. They claim their intent is good and helpful. Well, there are many thousands of us who dissagree! But, dont take my word for it. Look UP, look up at the sky. Do you see those white plumes, contrails that just never seem to fade away? They spread out, sometimes criss cross in the sky. Ever see those? You have? oh good! Well, at least your eyes are awake. LoL check out f a c e b o o k group global skywatch
Dude, what???
It does not take a geoengineer to spot it. The purpose of this project or whatever you want to call it is to recue glogal warming by dispensing reflective particulates into the ionisphere, to provide ability for sunlight to reflect back up & outward. some of the ingredients that those planes dispense are these,
Ethylene dibromide, barium, aluminum, sulfur dioxide, strontium, arsenic, cadmium, fungi, bacteria, nonpareils and well, you look it up yourself. Enjoy, don’t breath deep!
the mass media is interpretting for their viewers, weather condtions & reports on pollutions. Pretty straight forward it seems. But, there is another perspective to consider. The haze over this area is not just pollution from business & manufacturers, car pollutions etc. There is a program that uses bioengineering to create specific "low cloud cover" to dispense specific chemicals for the intended purpose at the time of dispersal. more information can be found by web searching Chem Trails and or Bioengineering. Try looking up Global Skywatch dot com slash chemtrails, or look up Public Law 105-85 for more detailed description of what I am saying here. Right in plain sight. sorry to blast you with too much information at once. But, for many, it might take a while to catch up. :) wish you good repiratory health, and a life filled without cancer! LoL ;)
The pro Obama media ignores Solar cycles & sun spot activity highs & lows since they explain the elevated temperates. They also leave out the record highs last set in 1936 approximately to try and push global warming today.
The only LoL is your refusal of basic science. They are called contrails not chemtrails.
There is only one way to really "clear" the air.
Just when you thought China couldn't become a bigger sh!t-hole than it already was, it goes that extra mile to prove you wrong!
Welcome to the industrialized, greed-driven world - how ya liking it?
And now the Chinese are spreading their genes in this country. They are the most barbaric, self-absorbed culture around. They kill their own children for profit, have absolutely no protections for animals or the enviornment. Do you think that changes because they are here? They left their cesspool so they can make one here. Personally, I'll take the Mexicans.