Introduction
Pollution in Beijing has exceeded the ‘Very unhealthy’ alert and is now rated unlivable. People in Beijing are advised to avoid going outside wherever possible. Good morning/afternoon everyone. I 'm here today to raise awareness about air pollution in Beijing, the capital city of china.
What is Pollution?
Pollution is defined as the process of harmful substances being released into the air. Some of these substances include Carbon Monoxide, Sulphur dioxide, Lead and PM2.5. PM2.5 is small particles which are smaller than 25 thousandths of a millimeter. This polluted air will fill your lungs with tiny particles and cause Lung cancer, Asthma and other heart and lung diseases.
How does Pollution affect the people of Beijing?
According to the EPA pollution recommendations, when a city reaches an air quality index (AQI) of over 400, all people should avoid going outdoors. Beijing’s highest AQI is 895. This impacts the daily lives of Beijing citizens immensely. Air pollution has been related to increased cases of cancer, heart disease, stroke and other respiratory illnesses. It is also associated with asthma in children.
How did pollution become a problem in Beijing?
China produces half of the world’s coal, and 70% of china’s energy is produced by burning coal, about the same as Australia. China has burned about 3.8 Billion tons of before 2011, and the rest of the world has burnt 4.3. Coal burning produced about five billion tons of carbon dioxide in china in 2004.
“Air Quality Guarantee Plan for the 29th Olympic Games in Beijing”. In this plan, similar control measures were extended to surrounding areas, including Tianjin, Hebei, Shanxi, Inner Mongolia, and Shandong. In Tianjin and Hebei, this policy was compulsorily and strictly implemented. However, for Shanxi, Inner Mongolia, and Shandong, the plan was only implemented if air conditions became extremely serious. Wang et al. (2010b) found that in June 2008, the daily emissions of sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen dioxide (NOx), and particulate matter (PM10) in Beijing totaled 103.9, 428.5, and 362.7 tons, respectively. During the Olympic Games, the daily emissions of SO2, NOx, and PM10 in Beijing were reduced to 61.6, 229.1, and 164.3 tons, which were 41, 47, and 55% lower than the respective June 2008 emission levels.”
Air pollution is considered one of China’s main environmental threat. Some experts suggest it is due to the amount of manufacturing companies and vehicles. While others say it is the electrical plants which spew
A major area China 's air pollution effects is the environment. With this in mind a way the pollution damages the environment is through acid rain ("Air pollution in China"). Sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides go high into the atmosphere to combine with oxygen to form the heavy pollutant known as acid rain (epa.gov). Acid rain easily dissolves in water, and when mixed with other pollutants in China 's atmosphere, can contaminate the soil and water sources. One-third of China 's water is unusable in the industry and agriculture because of contamination (Kahn & Yardley). That is concerning because water is used for a lot of things in the world and if it can be contaminated, the contamination might spread to wildlife. Acid rain is a really common issue the air pollution causes in China.
According to Reuters, 90 percent of cities in China fail to meet air standard in 2014 (Stanway, Feb 1, 2015). Among the top ten worst air quality cities, seven out of ten cities are located in the heavy industrial province of Hebei in China, which surrounds Beijing. The data of ambient air quality standard varied
China, one of the worlds largest industrial powers, is now facing a difficult situation. China’s industries rely largely on coal power which emits harmful gases, causing intense air pollution. The Chinese government, in fear that the country would fall in a recession, has not done much to stop these industries, so China has become the second largest greenhouse gas emitter in the world. The types of pollution created by this include air pollution and water pollution, both of which are harmful to people and wildlife. China’s problem has become the world’s problem. Nitrogen oxides and sulfur oxides disgorged by coal-fired power plants fall as acid rain on Seoul and Tokyo, and much of the particulate pollution in Los
On October 1st, 1949, the People’s Republic of China officially became a country and a player on the world stage. Since then, China has entered a new Communist era of stability, with the Reform and Opening Up policies of 1978 bringing in China’s phenomenal economic growth (Tisdell, 2008). However, with these advances in industry come a downside: air pollution. Since the early 1980s, air pollution levels have been climbing to dangerous levels. However, in 2013, the scales tipped for the worst. This certainly was not the first year that air contamination reared its ugly face, blackening Chinese cities, closing roadways and sending children to the hospital. Although difficulty breathing and poor air conditions had been a fact of life for most people in China, awareness of the problem peaked that year, causing 2013 to be remembered as the year that China’s struggle with air pollution went mainstream. Shortly after the start of the year, Beijing and surrounding regions were hit by pollution of unimaginable levels. At one point, in the middle of January, the Air Quality Index level in Beijing peaked as high as 993, far beyond levels health officials deem extremely dangerous. For comparison, on the same day in Miami, the AQI was 11 (Xinhua, 2013). As this air pollution issue continues to develop, it is vital that the Chinese put an end to this air contamination because of the health issues, economic issues, and international relation issues.
“Air pollution is defined as any substances absorb into atmosphere, and these substances harm the living things and environment” (Dictionary). As dictionary mentioned, during development of the Beijing for 10 years, air has been contaminated by emission of gases and smog from industrial factories whose number has been increasing. A number of particles and dusts damage to people’s health and their life style. People are always concerning about daily concentration of particles. Even though they struggle with defend their health against air pollution, polluted particles would give residences in Beijing fatal effect for people’s health. In Real-time Air Quality Index (AQI), we can compare Beijing to another countries using numerical data. This city is one of the most polluted city in the world. According to the article, “China 's massive pollution problem”, The Week, Wagstaff states that the air in Beijing is too dense with particles to watch the forest fire”(Wagstaff).
China’s air pollution is one the biggest contributor to public health in China. There is a high level of toxic level in the air produced by coal plants and factories throughout China. The air pollution is so bad that a polluted fog of smoke has been formed around different cities all over China. According to the Greenpeace NGO, "Millions of people in China are breathing a hazardous cocktail of chemicals every day [and] these chemicals are caused by coal-fired power plants, factories, and vehicles, and are responsible for heart disease, stroke, respiratory illnesses, birth defects and cancer" (The Problems of Air, 2016). Constant exposure to the extreme air pollution in China is hazardous to the human body and can cause
It is very hard to believe someone actually benefits from China’s air pollution, but it is true. For those companies that manufacture filter masks and air purifications products, they make dibs on the air pollution. Air purifiers market will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 18% during 2016 to 2021, according to TechSci Research Report. Those who can afford the price would like to install purifiers at homes, schools, offices, subway stations, airports and so on, at least as a kind of psychological comfort. Wealthy populations who live either in the urban or far away from polluted rural areas can financially defend themselves by by improving indoor air quality through air purifiers, wearing the best
Air pollution, as one of the concerns that had raised the attention of environmentalists and scientists in the developed countries, now have been targeted at the country, China, that have been going through a rapid development of industrialization. However, unfortunately, the haze pollution in China, measured by the emission of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, particulate matters, and carbon dioxide, has already gone far away beyond being the side effect of the development but also the handicap of the country’s future.
Nearly two centuries ago, Great Britain watched it’s environment deteriorate from the pollution caused by the rapidly expanding factories of the industrial revolution. Today, China is one of many countries who see it’s growth in industry and modernization of the economy cause similar environmental issues. The country, along with its capital of Beijing, has become the poster boy of the decline of quality of life when pollution is allowed to be emitted unchecked. Health issues related to this have been on the rise, and many individuals in China had devoted time in educating the public on these issues, with the government slowly catching up. The pollution in China is one of many examples of the issues of modern industrialization, but the responses by individuals and the government are starting to have some serious results in recent years.
Another useful suggestion raised by Y and C is to look at current air quality policies in China, the corresponding authorities and how they work together. D and H added that air quality policy is incorporated into the national 5-year plan, regional and city plans, and main cities we can look into are Beijing, Shanghai Guangzhou and also Shenyang. It is a good suggestion because these policies are guiding the action of related corporations and the people in the corresponding authorities are key decision makers. Therefore, key authorities and recent main policies on air quality are reviewed as below.
Most people think of the smog that they see that seems to hover over some of the world’s largest cities. Some of the world’s most polluted cities are those in the two countries with the largest populations, China and India. Everybody has seen the pictures of air so thick there is no visibility in Hong Kong, New Delhi and other cities. However, not all air pollution is visible. Air pollution takes place when the air contains gases or fumes and dust. The air pollution that can be seen is called smog, but that which cannot be seen is just as dangerous as the smog that results in dangerous air quality warnings. When there is air pollution, it means that there is a high quantity of dangerous gases in the air that may be injurious to the health
It seems as if the Chinese government might not have the issue under control. Although they have sent of multiple teams of officials to dozens of cities around Beijing to try grab hold of the smog problem, pollutant levels have risen to nearly 14% from 2013-2016 (South Morning China Post). According to the online source The Guardian, in May of 2017 dozens of flights had to be canceled and civilians were told to stay inside because the air quality was so poor. Li Shuo, Greenpeace’s Beijing-based climate campaigner, tweeted “Sand storm + industrial pollution = airpocalypse in the middle of spring,”. The levels of the particle PM10 were reportedly over 2,000 micrograms per cubic gram (Guardian 1). Living a healthy life is essentially impossible for anyone who breathes oxygen in Beijing. Lung disease amongst many other variables control the lifestyle there. If a change from fossil fuel powered machines isn’t implemented immediately, the people of Beijing won’t stand a chance.
While critics argue air pollution is not serious in china, I argue air pollution is serious in china. because smog, an excess of harmful gasses. Now, air pollution is a serious problem in china. According to BBC news, Beijing government on Friday released four smog alert . Beijing 's smog problem is mainly due to fuel power plants , industrial pollution and car exhaust(n.p.). recently, Beijing faces severe smog, government explain the main reason why there is smog is factories and automobile exhaust. Factory make air pollution