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Q: Air pollution over time
For those of you who have been in China more than a year or two, have you noticed a rapid deterioration in the air quality? In just a few years I've seen the air here in the Northeast get substantially worse. It never really affected me before - I was aware that it was bad but had no physical reaction to it. The last few weeks have been painful - the smell of the burning of crops permeates through the whole city at night and the visibility has been near 0 due to smog some days. Yet the other day a taxi driver told me that life in this town is so much better because now there is 1 car for every 3.3 people. Do people not see a connection? This is just atrocious. I fear for my health. I'm leaving China in about 2 months permanently. How could I subject my future kids to an environment like this? It would be negligent. Any signs of it getting better aside from talk?
8 years 23 weeks ago in Health & Safety - China
Some say air quality is getting better, I can't say I've seen it, the opposite in fact, but maybe it has in some places.
There has been a lot of talk and I really do think there are some genuine intentions up there at the top but when it comes to actually doing anything in the provinces officials would probably rather ignore it.
I read this story today.....
http://www.echinacities.com/news/Airpocalypse-Now-PM25-Hits-1400-in-Shen...
If the article is to believed it looks like the officials declared an emergency where construction is supposed to stop, but nobody actually bothered informing anyone of this or following up on it. It was all for show, so that some official got to look important and pretend he was doing his job while actually turning a blind eye to record breaking smog.
This is what worries me. You can have the air quality index hitting a record 1400 ( the level where it's hazardous is 300 according to the website I follow so what must 1400 be) , the hospitals are probably packed with people having breathing problems yet whoever calls the shots is either unwilling or just too incompetent to close down the polluters. It doesn't look to me like anyone is serious about improving the air.
In the meantime people are still frantically buying cars to add to the problem which is probably being encouraged because it's great for the economy and national face right?
I'm leaving China when my contract is done too. Lots of reasons but the shitty air I breathe every day is a major one. It freaks me out.
Some say air quality is getting better, I can't say I've seen it, the opposite in fact, but maybe it has in some places.
There has been a lot of talk and I really do think there are some genuine intentions up there at the top but when it comes to actually doing anything in the provinces officials would probably rather ignore it.
I read this story today.....
http://www.echinacities.com/news/Airpocalypse-Now-PM25-Hits-1400-in-Shen...
If the article is to believed it looks like the officials declared an emergency where construction is supposed to stop, but nobody actually bothered informing anyone of this or following up on it. It was all for show, so that some official got to look important and pretend he was doing his job while actually turning a blind eye to record breaking smog.
This is what worries me. You can have the air quality index hitting a record 1400 ( the level where it's hazardous is 300 according to the website I follow so what must 1400 be) , the hospitals are probably packed with people having breathing problems yet whoever calls the shots is either unwilling or just too incompetent to close down the polluters. It doesn't look to me like anyone is serious about improving the air.
In the meantime people are still frantically buying cars to add to the problem which is probably being encouraged because it's great for the economy and national face right?
I'm leaving China when my contract is done too. Lots of reasons but the shitty air I breathe every day is a major one. It freaks me out.
Now that you mention pollution, I have to agree with the locals, Chinese bodies are different........if you know what I mean.....
In my city we actually had a few days of blue skies over the last few days. I even went out cycling last week. Not much in the line of pollution, but maybe it is because there is no central heating. It is bloody cold and getting worse, but at least not dongbei cold. Yet.
I had this observation a few months ago:
http://answers.echinacities.com/question/economic-slowdown-or-competent-governance
I really did notice a difference-I've been here almost 5 years. But the recent DongBei pollution is off the chart. I don't know what to think.
Why would it be getting better, nothing has been done to change it, except doctoring some stats
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/d59ca576-5d14-11e5-9846-de406ccb37f2.html
More cars driven by morons who constantly brake and accelerate, more people who can afford to have the heat on in their uninsulated apartments with windows open.
I have to say in the South, it does not seem that bad at all. I think there have been two days over 200, but most of the time in winter, it is around the 150 mark, and between 50-100 in the summer (these numbers are the american scale). Not ideal but not bad.
Scandinavian:
it is still pretty bad if you compare to e.g. the Scandinavian capitals. In terms of cars and people they compare to Zhuhai... the air just never gets above maybe 25 where in Zhuhai it can be 2-300 but usually at least 100
I lived in Beijing from 2005-2012 ...starts from 2010 air pollution start getting worthier year by year...its heartbreaking to see the city i lived for so long is like that....and pollution is the one of the most reasons why i moved to south china, its better here for now.And i will consider to leave China if it will be polluted here,because i cant move to XinJiang or Tibet for better air ))
I wouldn't say it's getting worse, but the type of pollutants has changed over time. The smell of the air went from coal to dust during the construction boom to some hard to identify chemicals and there are always some traces of gasoline, more today than then, I am a lot more concerned about the unidentified chemicals than I was about the others at their peak.
The color of the smog has changed too, it went from brownish to grey to white, not sure what pollutant each color can be associated with, but this supports my theory, the origin of the air pollution has changed.
