China's Air Pollution

[Randy W]

The Xinhua take -

Less fireworks, less air pollution in Beijing on lunar New Year's Eve

[Guest ExChinaExpat]

China's pollution is all about the aliens. There are reports they have purchased a modified version of Mega-Maid and will soon commence operation Vaccu-Suck.

 

Edited February 2, 2014 by ExChinaExpat (see edit history)

[tsap seui]

China's pollution is all about the aliens. There are reports they have purchased a modified version of Mega-Maid and will soon commence operation Vaccu-Suck.

 

Great idea!!! Have some Mel Brooks characters suck up all the firecracker smoke from the weddings, CNY, shop openings, and who knows why else all the fireworks are blown up...and WAHLAAAA No more pollution in the concrete canyons of the Mother Lung Land.

 

IT ain't the burning coal or the car exhaust, 1point 3 billion cabbage eating people farting 37.3 times a day....NO....its the dern firecracker smoke. I'll admit, I have touched off 3 large trucks worth of them big Chinese firecrackers in my time there, it's a lot of fun and it went on for hours, but the smoke.....Oh God, the smoke.

[Randy W]

To my way of thinking, China's anti-pollution effort will BEGIN when they realize that they need to install scrubbers on EVERY ONE of the 100 ft.or so smokestacks in the country.

 

from the Washington Post

In China’s war on bad air, government decision to release data gives fresh hope

Starting this year, the government has required 15,000 factories to publicly report details on their air emissions and water discharges in real time.

 

. . .

 

The seeds of the new transparency were sown by the U.S. Embassy when it began monitoring and publishing data on the fine particles in Beijing’s air that cause the most harm to human health — those that measure less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter. Today, the air-quality readings by the U.S. Embassy and consulates around the country are a major topic on China’s microblogs and are widely watched through a smartphone app.

 

The Chinese government initially pushed back against such disclosure, requesting in 2009 that the United States stop making public the data.

 

But in 2012, Chinese authorities ordered cities to publish their own data on PM2.5 pollution levels; today, 179 cities issue real-time figures, while the Ministry of Environmental Protection has begun ranking the worst offenders. Those rankings have been dynamite.

 

 

Air pollution data for some cities near us - http://aqicn.org/city/nanning/

[amberjack1234]

Randy they are not stoopid enough that they don't already know that. When all the now empowered government entities have what they consider enough money in the Cayman Islands and a visa to Australia, America, Canada etc and the air, land, and water is no longer fit for humans will it change. The poor people will be the one left to clean it all up, live with it and then a new government will have to move in and take charge and clean it all up.

 

A bit harsh but it's not far from the truth.

 

Larry

Edited February 3, 2014 by amberjack1234 (see edit history)

[Guest ExChinaExpat]

Randy they are not stoopid enough that they don't already know that. When all the now empowered government entities have what they consider enough money in the Cayman Islands and a visa to Australia, America, Canada etc and the air, land, and water is no longer fit for humans will it change. The poor people will be the one left to clean it all up, live with it and then a new government will have to move in and take charge and clean it all up.

 

A bit harsh but it's not far from the truth.

 

Larry

 

Agreed Larry. China is not about to take responsibility for polluting the air, land, sea, lakes, streams, ponds, food, hospitals, corruption, human rights abuses, yada, yada, yada until hell freezes over, or until the cheerleaders rise up and take charge.

 

http://i57.tinypic.com/25p1gmg.jpg

http://i61.tinypic.com/v9eg8.jpg

http://i59.tinypic.com/14o2cz8.jpg

http://i59.tinypic.com/r02m92.jpg

Edited February 3, 2014 by ExChinaExpat (see edit history)

[amberjack1234]

I like that idea. They would probably do a much better job too.

 

Larry

[Randy W]

Another idea - simply research the idea of cleaning up the air AFTER it's already polluted - that should buy them another few years before they actually have to tackle the problem at its source

 

 

'World's largest' smog chamber to be built in Beijing

construction is scheduled to begin in 2016 or sooner as "the government is losing patience in the battle against smog and is pushing scientists for results".

 

. . .

 

"If an issue can be solved by money, it is relatively easy. Unfortunately, it does not apply to smog."

 

 

Yeah, right. I thought Beijing was ALREADY the World's largest smog chamber

[credzba]

Yeah, right. I thought Beijing was ALREADY the World's largest smog chamber

That is exactly what I was thinking when I read the article.

Help me understand, "Your gonna spend 600 million yuan to generate smog when Beijing is so full of smog people have to wear masks. Can you explain that logic?"

[Thomas Promise]

Chinese couple pose in GAS MASKS amid choking smog on their wedding. One couple were not going to let the smog in Beijing ruin their big day.

 

Severe pollution has hit much of northern China for the past week, with some readings well over 10 times the internationally accepted safety limit.

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2569197/Chinese-couple-dont-let-smog-ruin-wedding-day-happily-pose-photos-wearing-GAS-MASKS.html

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=uHKTw5POsH8

[Randy W]

Beijing's first air pollution prevention regulation came into effect on Saturday. Beijing steps up air pollution law enforcement

 

Over 400 environmental monitoring staff began work at 12 a.m. Saturday to conduct a scrutiny on industrial emissions and dust.

 

Among the 617 plants and firms inspected, 25 received fines for discharging excessive emissions and 11 others for improper treatment of dust.

 

When inspectors arrived at the Hongxiang Heat Co. Ltd. in Changping District, they found emission from roaring coal-fired heating boilers were discharging sulfur dioxide with a density of 350 milligrams per cubic meter, which is seven times more than the city's permitted level.

 

Zhong Chonglei, captain of the municipal environmental inspection team, said according to the regulation, the company should be given a fine of between 80,000 yuan (13,018 U.S. dollars) and 100,000 yuan. The fine will be doubled if the company fails a further check in a month.

 

Beijing's local law on air pollution prevention is widely regarded as a test of the government's resolve to solve air pollution problems. It legislates penalties from hefty fines to imprisonment for polluters, and, for the first time, sets a ceiling on total emissions of major pollutants. A previous guideline targeted only growth of emissions.

 

[Randy W]

There are a couple of statements in here that I find encouraging - at least as a recognition of the problem

 

Smog gone ‘in less than 30 years’

 

Zhang Mingying with the Beijing Bureau of Meteorology explained to the Global Times that the recent weather conditions had exacerbated the pollution in North China, but the main cause was polluting industries.

Ma Jun, director of the Beijing-based Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs, said the root reason is the huge amount of industrial discharge into the sky. "Some factories continued to discharge exhaust gas during the smoggy days."

The key measure, in Ma Jun's opinion, is to curb pollution by factories. "A few thousand large factories account for 60 percent of all discharge in all of China," he said.

The State Council urged factories to install exhaust gas treatment devices and facilities, and also ordered them to limit the consumption of coal in northern areas.

The Ministry of Science and Technology promised to focus on tasks such as putting new air pollution treatment technology to practical use, and carry out research and development of clean gas technology.

Ma Jun believed China is not short of money or technology, and that regulation by the government and supervision from the public are also important.

"If we can tighten supervision, with mature foreign experience and our ability for innovation, we can solve the problem in 10 years or less."

 

[credzba]

It is a good sign I think that they are being realistic.

It cannot be solved overnight, but they are working on it, and have a plan.

 

I hope they can do it in 10 years, and maybe in 5 years the air will be enough better that we can live in China.

[amberjack1234]

Cred, I wouldn't hold my breath on that one.

 

When all the politicians and million/billionaires get what they consider to be enough money for them to get out of the country or they just plain die and an new bread come into power something will be done. Right now it just ain't gona happen and in no time soon either. They have just as good as said so already. The technology it already availabe it is just a matter of making them install it. Which they are not going to do. It could be done in less than 10 years alright but it won't. It's all about the money and not the people. China can live with losing half a billion people so what do the rich/government care about the people? Follow the money trail. That does not lead to spending billions or even trillions to clean all this crap up that they have created in order to get rich so it just ain't gona happen for a long, long time. The rich have air scrubbers on their homes, offices and even their cars so what do they care. If they need something they send some slob servant out in the soup to get it.

 

I know and I wish that what they are saying was the truth and perhaps at some small scale it is taking root. I seriously doubt that the reading on the emissions of these coal plants are even properly reported. They are going to fine them $13,000 hah they have that in their coffee fund so what is that to them.

 

I know that it will happen some day but I have all the confidence in the world that at the age of 66 I will never live to see it happen.

 

If I was to ever going to live in China for say 6 months or longer it would have to be somewhere like Randy lives but then would you have excellent health care like say Beijing or Shanghai there or would you have to hop a air plane, fast train or slow bus to get to quality health care for something like a hearth attack. Where quality health care might come closer to saving your live. Actually after Jessie's problems I am not so sure you can get quality care there either. Then there was ole Orin's issues with the health care system in China. He use to be a member here a long time ago. His story is here somewhere.

 

Larry

[tsap seui]

China, a really nice place to visit......

 

tsap seui