17 thoughts on “China: Smog “..a Red Light Warning Sent by Nature””
The pictures of the smog in China in this clip and seen in other places are mind-blowing. If American cities were plagued with this kind of bad air, the torch and pitch-fork folks would have been out in force long ago (Except perhaps in those know-nothing red states where dirty air is just a sign of free markets at work).
Of course, if you go into the streets in China to protest, you may get run over by a tank. It has gotten bad enough that the government is finally recognizing the seriousness of the problem and making the right noises about fixing it. Unfortunately, one of their main “fixes” is to just move the pollution out to the fringes by putting the coal-fired generating plants out in the coal regions and away from the cities.
The pitch-forks were out in Southern California when I lived there in the 1960’s. The air resembled what we see in China. The only time we could see the sky or the mountains, which were 3 miles away, was when the wind blew towards the Pacific. Here’s how they continually improved air quality, and how they are still chipping away at emissions.
As someone who lives and works in China, let me tell you the air pollution here is horrid. I’m in southern China, so we haven’t seen the peaks and valleys that Beijing has – but we get a steadier level. Most days the the PM 2.5 level is twice the acceptable level of what in the states, on bad days its much higher. Locals have names for the different types of coughs that kids develop from the pollution. During Chinese New Year when the country pretty much shut down (factories, cars, etc) I saw a skyline I hadn’t seen in the 6 months I’ve lived here. Looking out my apartment window I saw buildings in the distance (2-3 miles away) that I didn’t even know existed. On bad days, and they happen with regularity, I can barely see the tops of the skyscrapers in town. My wife and I live with nearly perpetual low level headaches which go away whenever we leave the country. It’s bad here – truly bad.
Don’t forget Donora PA in 1948—-20 people dead as well as hundreds of animals, and long-lasting after-effects. You weren’t alive yet, Ray, and I was just a kid, but I lived in North Jersey, and it was big news because we had our own air pollution problems, some coming r=from PA.
Air pollution at any level does damage—what’s the estimate? 30,000 deaths per year in the U.S. alone?
It’s amazing there are protests there, as their legal system hosts about 3 to 5000 executions per year, expedited by sham trials over vanilla offenses (drug charges and the like). The high number is sometimes written off as ‘well there are too many people here anyway’.
It’s also amazing that they haven’t developed a huge privatized prison system as we have in the U.S. Don’t they understand that they can make a lot of money if they lock everybody up and exploit them for slave labor instead of killing them? Sham trials over vanilla offenses like drug charges?—-yep, that’s how we have solved the “too many people” problem in many of our cities, and the plutocracy has written them off as “well, they would have voted Democrat anyway”
In 1851 the City of London secured powers under the City of London
Sewers Act to control smoky furnaces and, under pressure from the Court
of Common Council, these powers were extended to the whole of the
urban area two years later. The cartoon below appeared in
Punch in 1853, caricaturing a meeting held to protest against the Smoke Nuisance Bill. Arguments put forward in favour of smoke included its curative and
antiseptic qualities. Sulphurous gasses were believed to act as a tonic.
Well, smog could help “cure” the disease of inaction. “The smog may be the world’s best hope; this visceral deterrent to fossil fuel burning motivates actions that will help control climate change as well.”
The pictures of the smog in China in this clip and seen in other places are mind-blowing. If American cities were plagued with this kind of bad air, the torch and pitch-fork folks would have been out in force long ago (Except perhaps in those know-nothing red states where dirty air is just a sign of free markets at work).
Of course, if you go into the streets in China to protest, you may get run over by a tank. It has gotten bad enough that the government is finally recognizing the seriousness of the problem and making the right noises about fixing it. Unfortunately, one of their main “fixes” is to just move the pollution out to the fringes by putting the coal-fired generating plants out in the coal regions and away from the cities.
The pitch-forks were out in Southern California when I lived there in the 1960’s. The air resembled what we see in China. The only time we could see the sky or the mountains, which were 3 miles away, was when the wind blew towards the Pacific. Here’s how they continually improved air quality, and how they are still chipping away at emissions.
http://www.arb.ca.gov/html/brochure/history.htm
As someone who lives and works in China, let me tell you the air pollution here is horrid. I’m in southern China, so we haven’t seen the peaks and valleys that Beijing has – but we get a steadier level. Most days the the PM 2.5 level is twice the acceptable level of what in the states, on bad days its much higher. Locals have names for the different types of coughs that kids develop from the pollution. During Chinese New Year when the country pretty much shut down (factories, cars, etc) I saw a skyline I hadn’t seen in the 6 months I’ve lived here. Looking out my apartment window I saw buildings in the distance (2-3 miles away) that I didn’t even know existed. On bad days, and they happen with regularity, I can barely see the tops of the skyscrapers in town. My wife and I live with nearly perpetual low level headaches which go away whenever we leave the country. It’s bad here – truly bad.
Another historical precedent for the Beijing smog is the Great Smog of London, 1952. 4,000 excess deaths were attributed to the worst pea-souper.
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-20615186
Don’t forget Donora PA in 1948—-20 people dead as well as hundreds of animals, and long-lasting after-effects. You weren’t alive yet, Ray, and I was just a kid, but I lived in North Jersey, and it was big news because we had our own air pollution problems, some coming r=from PA.
Air pollution at any level does damage—what’s the estimate? 30,000 deaths per year in the U.S. alone?
http://www.chinasmack.com/2014/pictures/face-masks-on-peking-university-statues-protest-beijing-smog.html
Protest lives.
Clever and easy to do, but as Jay said, it’s just “one hair among nine oxen”.
You are right. We need a lot more than a hair. Its amazing there is protest there. We are seeing signs of change.
It’s amazing there are protests there, as their legal system hosts about 3 to 5000 executions per year, expedited by sham trials over vanilla offenses (drug charges and the like). The high number is sometimes written off as ‘well there are too many people here anyway’.
It’s also amazing that they haven’t developed a huge privatized prison system as we have in the U.S. Don’t they understand that they can make a lot of money if they lock everybody up and exploit them for slave labor instead of killing them? Sham trials over vanilla offenses like drug charges?—-yep, that’s how we have solved the “too many people” problem in many of our cities, and the plutocracy has written them off as “well, they would have voted Democrat anyway”
In 1851 the City of London secured powers under the City of London
Sewers Act to control smoky furnaces and, under pressure from the Court
of Common Council, these powers were extended to the whole of the
urban area two years later. The cartoon below appeared in
Punch in 1853, caricaturing a meeting held to protest against the Smoke Nuisance Bill. Arguments put forward in favour of smoke included its curative and
antiseptic qualities. Sulphurous gasses were believed to act as a tonic.
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/32352/32352-h/images/078.png
Remind you of anything ?
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/03/06/3367631/china-war-on-smog/
any links for the “curative and tonic” properties of smog?
Well, smog could help “cure” the disease of inaction. “The smog may be the world’s best hope; this visceral deterrent to fossil fuel burning motivates actions that will help control climate change as well.”
http://www.treehugger.com/environmental-policy/china-coming-clean-smog-ideal-energy-path-fight-global-warming.html
Page 12 of 50 Years On – The struggle for air quality in London since the great smog of December 1952 – issued by the Mayor of London
http://legacy.london.gov.uk/mayor/environment/air_quality/docs/50_years_on.pdf
Further link to the pro smog lobby
http://www.funnell.org/archives/captain-funnell-preferred-the-smog/