Cleaner Air is Just HEALTHIER

[amberjack1234]

Just more propaganda for the masses. During the recent big meeting of the silk road debacle all pollution producing plants were all shut down, no one that lived in Beijing was allowed into the city, all large industrial type trucks were kept out of the city so much that my wife's parents streets were back to back gridlocked with these big trucks all the way out of town. The only way to get an inch was on foot or bicycle not even a scooter could get around. All electricity was cut off. My mother in law had a doctors appointment in Beijing and could not go. The city buses were all shut down and they could not move. But they had blue sky's in Beijing for their meeting. They know where the real pollution is coming from and it ain't the little guy on the street cooking sticks of lamb and sweet potatoes.

Edited May 19, 2017 by amberjack1234 (see edit history)

[Randy W]

Just more propaganda for the masses. During the recent big meeting of the silk road debacle all pollution producing plants were all shut down, no one that lived in Beijing was allowed into the city, all large industrial type trucks were kept out of the city so much that my wife's parents streets were back to back gridlocked with these big trucks all the way out of town. The only way to get an inch was on foot or bicycle not even a scooter could get around. All electricity was cut off. My mother in law had a doctors appointment in Beijing and could not go. The city buses were all shut down and they could not move. But they had blue sky's in Beijing for their meeting. They know where the real pollution is coming from and it ain't the little guy on the street cooking sticks of lamb and sweet potatoes.

 

 

Larry, that pretty well covers it! Thanks!

[Greg.D.]

I showed the article to a co-worker who is an air-monitoring specialist. We couldn't imagine anything that was an important pollution contributor that the human would be able to smell with her nose. Organics are more easily detectable in both quantifiable and qualitative measure by hand-held units, if speed is important. There are "next-gen" IR based methods that can mounted on a vehicle and give real-time organic analysis (think of the vehicles measuring car exhaust on on-ramps) and also smokestack, aerosol and particulate analysis (LIDAR, same used in airborne observation and self-driving cars).

 

Then from a legal if not technical perspective, you wouldn't use an instrument (the nose, in this case) that you couldn't calibrate first.

 

So, yeh, it's for show or propaganda. Or, it's actually a joke.

Edited May 19, 2017 by Greg.D. (see edit history)

[dnoblett]

Chinese student slammed by netizens over Maryland commencement speech about fresh air, freedom

A Chinese student at an American university has hurt the feelings of the Chinese people with a controversial commencement speech at the University of Maryland over the weekend which focused on fresh air and freedom.

 

The student, Shuping Yang, was chosen by faculty and staff as a speaker at the university's commencement ceremony held on Sunday. Before arriving in the United States five years ago, Yang couldn't speak English. Now, she's a graduate who majored in psychology and theater with a minor in German. Here's what she had to say about that transition:

 

People always ask me why did you come to the University of Maryland? I always answer: fresh air.

Five years ago, as I stepped off the plane from China and left the terminal at Dulles airport, I was ready to put on one of my five face masks, but when I took my first breath of American air, I put my mask away.

The air was so sweet and fresh and utterly luxurious. I was surprised by this. I grew up in a city in China where I had to wear a face mask every time I went outside, otherwise I might get sick. However, the moment I inhaled and exhaled outside the airport, I felt free.

No more fog on my glasses, no more difficult breathing, no more suppression. Every breath was a delight as I stand here today I cannot help but recall that feeling of freedom.
At the University of Maryland. I would soon feel another kind of fresh air for which I will be forever grateful. The fresh air of free speech.

 

MORE...

http://shanghaiist.com/2017/05/22/maryland-speech.php

[MikeandRong]

Daughter had to travel back to Shanghai on business for a couple of weeks. Could not believe how sick she felt after being here for 10 years. Came back and ended up at the docs with URI and sinus infection 12 hours after landing. Said everything looked grey compared to home being in color.

 

I was way up NE in the winter. No picture could do it justice. You just had to see the same color everywhere and on everything and even the clothing that was worn made everyone blend in as one. The actual smell wasn't that bad, just burning coal and corn stalks.

[Randy W]

Daughter had to travel back to Shanghai on business for a couple of weeks. Could not believe how sick she felt after being here for 10 years. Came back and ended up at the docs with URI and sinus infection 12 hours after landing. Said everything looked grey compared to home being in color.

 

I was way up NE in the winter. No picture could do it justice. You just had to see the same color everywhere and on everything and even the clothing that was worn made everyone blend in as one. The actual smell wasn't that bad, just burning coal and corn stalks.

 

 

 

That PM2.5 coal dust clings to EVERYTHING!

[Randy W]

Chinese student slammed by netizens over Maryland commencement speech about fresh air, freedom

 

A Chinese student at an American university has hurt the feelings of the Chinese people with a controversial commencement speech at the University of Maryland over the weekend which focused on fresh air and freedom.

 

The student, Shuping Yang, was chosen by faculty and staff as a speaker at the university's commencement ceremony held on Sunday. Before arriving in the United States five years ago, Yang couldn't speak English. Now, she's a graduate who majored in psychology and theater with a minor in German. Here's what she had to say about that transition:

 

People always ask me why did you come to the University of Maryland? I always answer: fresh air.

Five years ago, as I stepped off the plane from China and left the terminal at Dulles airport, I was ready to put on one of my five face masks, but when I took my first breath of American air, I put my mask away.

The air was so sweet and fresh and utterly luxurious. I was surprised by this. I grew up in a city in China where I had to wear a face mask every time I went outside, otherwise I might get sick. However, the moment I inhaled and exhaled outside the airport, I felt free.

No more fog on my glasses, no more difficult breathing, no more suppression. Every breath was a delight as I stand here today I cannot help but recall that feeling of freedom.

At the University of Maryland. I would soon feel another kind of fresh air for which I will be forever grateful. The fresh air of free speech.

 

MORE...

http://shanghaiist.com/2017/05/22/maryland-speech.php

 

 

. . . and the Global Times chimes in

 

Commencement speech cultural minefield

When a stereotyped viewpoint is formed and linked with certain political correctness, it's difficult to break away from it.

Yang caused public uproar as she disregarded facts at a high profile event. Subtly, many people have bowed to political correctness consciously. For example, there are Chinese students who deliberately portrayed themselves as victims of human rights violation in China to boost their chance of being accepted by American college.

Americans could be bound by the same tacit rules. One American scholar has more than once published soft-toned articles in Chinese publication (as it targets a Chinese audience) but requested a more critical version in the English edition (because his American peers would be able to read it.)

Defending freedom of speech is a lofty goal. However, tolerance of different opinions is becoming increasingly difficult. As Western media outlets picked up the story of Yang's speech, she was painted as a brave speaker overwhelmed by Chinese nationalists. Yang's speech unfortunately reinforced the already outdated perception of the American public toward China, and the following media reports only made it worse.

 

[Greg.D.]

Firstly: saying Kunming's air was dangerous was a poor (and untrue) choice (Kunming's traffic is really bad, however!).

 

But, even if she had referred to Beijing instead, she still was open for criticism because she came off as a stooge. And, in stooge-craft, if you sound like a stooge you are a stooge.

 

It's fine to blow some kisses to your alma mater and host country but her one note song was, to paraphrase Wayne, "China bad, USA good".

 

It was a missed opportunity to make contrasts and both praise and admonish her home land, all the while expressing her appreciation for China and spreading a message of hope for the future.

 

Somewhere, some faculty advisor at UMD didn't do his/her job and help guide the young woman towards a more thoughtful speech worthy of a college graduate. Anyway, it's done and her real education begins now.

[Randy W]

Firstly: saying Kunming's air was dangerous was a poor (and untrue) choice (Kunming's traffic is really bad, however!).

 

But, even if she had referred to Beijing instead, she still was open for criticism because she came off as a stooge. And, in stooge-craft, if you sound like a stooge you are a stooge.

 

It's fine to blow some kisses to your alma mater and host country but her one note song was, to paraphrase Wayne, "China bad, USA good".

 

It was a missed opportunity to make contrasts and both praise and admonish her home land, all the while expressing her appreciation for China and spreading a message of hope for the future.

 

Somewhere, some faculty advisor at UMD didn't do his/her job and help guide the young woman towards a more thoughtful speech worthy of a college graduate. Anyway, it's done and her real education begins now.

 

 

That sums it up very well, but I'd have to say she's right on the money about the air quality in Kunming vs. that in the U.S. - see http://aqicn.org/city/kunming/

 

U.S. cities tend to be in the 10 to 50 AQI range - a fraction of what you'll find even in Kunming. You don't have the coal and concrete dust, but you do have pollen, and industrial and automotive emissions.

 

That's 'GOOD' in the U.S., vs. 'MODERATE' to 'UNHEALTHY' in even the best Chinese cities, such as Kunming.

[Randy W]

in the SCMP

 

China builds ‘world’s biggest air purifier’ (and it seems to be working)

A 100-metre high air purification tower in Xian in Shaanxi province has helped reduce smog levels in the city, preliminary results suggest

 

 

 

The head of the research, Cao Junji, said improvements in air quality had been observed over an area of 10 square kilometres (3.86 square miles) in the city over the past few months and the tower has managed to produce more than 10 million cubic metres (353 million cubic feet) of clean air a day since its launch. Cao added that on severely polluted days the tower was able to reduce smog close to moderate levels.

 

[amberjack1234]

Sorry, I haven't read this whole vlog. To lazy I guess. My wife just told me a couple of days ago after she phoned home that her parents hometown of 6 million has now converted over to all natural gas. No coal. They live just a little southwest of Beijing. So it does seen that they are at least trying to improve. As long as it doesn't get in the way of money making. They also said that the building superintendent had reduced the temperature in the buildings. I don't know how much. Enough to offset the cost of the conversion I suspect.

[Randy W]

Sorry, I haven't read this whole vlog. To lazy I guess. My wife just told me a couple of days ago after she phoned home that her parents hometown of 6 million has now converted over to all natural gas. No coal. They live just a little southwest of Beijing. So it does seen that they are at least trying to improve. As long as it doesn't get in the way of money making. They also said that the building superintendent had reduced the temperature in the buildings. I don't know how much. Enough to offset the cost of the conversion I suspect.

 

It's of interest only if it's of interest - your choice, of course. It apparently makes a noticeable dent, though.

 

A manager at a restaurant about 1km (0.62 miles) northwest of the facility said she had noticed an improvement in air quality this winter, although she was previously unaware of the purpose of the tower. “I do feel better,” she said.

 

They are slated to stop the INCREASE in coal consumption by 2020, or something like that. Meaning, that for now, they are settling for SLOWER GROWTH in coal consumption and pollution.

[amberjack1234]

It is of interest to me as I do care for my inlaws health and what they have to breathe every day. I am sure that I would be much more interested if I had to live there.

[Randy W]

It is of interest to me as I do care for my inlaws health and what they have to breathe every day. I am sure that I would be much more interested if I had to live there.

 

 

The medicine they have here is ideal for asthma/bronchial coughs, although it tends more to Nyquill-type ingredients these days than what it used to. I'm going through a spell now that's under control thanks to IV's, inhalers, and nighttime stuff, like Singulair (I take a "children's" dose of that). Once it warms up in March, I'm sure I'll be back to normal.

 

But the PM2.5 coal dust, I would think. is especially toxic, almost like breathing atomized papier mache - it sticks to everything.

 

When I clean windows, Windex doesn't cut the mustard - I use a kitchen degreaser.

Edited January 17, 2018 by Randy W (see edit history)

[amberjack1234]

Randy, I certainly hope that you get better and before spring. I've had this fungus infection for almost two months now and it ain't no fun either. I was able to get out and do some work Monday. I was afraid that it was going to make me sicker because it was 27 degrees when I started but it didn't seem to have.

 

Best of luck.

 

PS The inlaws are sick too.