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IF YOU THINK the weather warnings we have in place for the coming days are worrying, spare a thought for the residents of Beijing.
Over the weekend, authorities in the city issued the highest smog warning yet this year, putting the city on an orange alert level.
Currently, pollution in some parts of the city sits at a level 17 times higher than what the World Health Organisation (WHO) considers to be safe.
The conditions pose a serious threat to those living and working in the city.
The heavy smog is put down to the prevalence of coal-powered industries in the region as well as dust from construction sites, according to the BBC.
These are exacerbated by humidity and a lack of wind in the region.
Last month, The People’s Daily newspaper said that air pollution in Shenyang, a region in the south-east of the country, had recorded some of the worst pollution data ever.
In an attempt to highlight the problem, Chinese artist Wang Renzheng has been vacuuming the city’s air.
As part of what he calls his Dust Project the artist been taking his hoover to some of Beijing’s environmental blackspots.
During the course of four hours he managed to bag 100 grams of dust.
Speaking to Associated Press, Wang said:
This is not an issue to be ignored, and I want to magnify it so much that you cannot ignore it.
The dust collected by Wang will be used to make a brick at a factory in northern China.
He describes the process of doing this as being like “a drop of water going into the sea”.
China is currently the world’s biggest producer of emissions, but is taking steps to change that. The country’s President Xi Jinping has described the conference as “a new starting point”.
Prior to this week’s COP21 climate change conference in Paris the country committed to a number of climate change targets, the most ambitious of which has been switching its energy sector over to 20% non-fossil fuels by 2030.
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I’d hate to have asthma there.. We are Lucky enough to have a good general Quality of air in this country
Only a matter of time before we have to pay for it Supernova haha
….. and they want to fine us because our cows are farting too much!
That’s got to be depressing .. Not breathing in fresh air , walking around in that all the time . when was the last time they’ve looked up at the stars at night ? We are very lucky to be able to get some fresh air everyday .
You can be rest assured suzie there’s no Telescopes gazing up at the stars and beauty that is it night sky in that part of China. We’re lucky
Supernova , we are very lucky .
Was there in October 2014, your eyes and lungs would burn when you’d go outdoors.
The Chinese spit everywhere, and when you are coughing up black phlegm you can understand why.
Very odd to see people going around with full haacp face masks.
Beijing isn’t like that all the time. The current levels are unusually high. There is roughly a split of 33% awful days, 33% average days and 33% clear blue skies. Last summer was the clearest I’ve ever seen. Source: lived there for 3 years
Didn’t China underestate it’s annual coal usage by 17% which is equal to Germany’s total annual CO2 output.
Climate change is the fault of a handful of Irish motorists. Tax them even more.
Look forward to the same in Africa and Central America in the not too distant future, courtesy of the same behaviour.
They can’t see the Woos from the Xis?
*Wu
我的道歉和感謝
The standard of comments, is getting worse day by day, I’m ok with bad grammar etc, because mine is quite brutal. But at least I can make points people understand.
Can’t wait until China’s pollution “peaks in 2030″
Things will be great after that.
The funny thing is they point to the fact that they are producing more renuable tech than anywhere else……. and running these factories on fossil fuels. You couldn’t make it up.
Mary Horney is to think for cleaning up the smog in Dublin.
Horrible.
Some people have never since the ocean before, some kid in these Chinese cities never seen the sky .
It is not so much that China uses coal – Rather – it is that it does not use clean coal technology, like we do here in the west.
Dude,
China opens a new coal powered station every 5 days. I travelled on a train from Shenzhen to Guangdong a trip of about 180km, no fields just factories. Visibility that whole journey was no more than about a half mile. When the train passed a coal fired power station it came down to a couple of hundred yards. The river water was black. Cement factories, dozens and dozens of them had destroyed the landscape both sides of the tracks.The main river running through Shenzhen, the smell, the water was like black oil it was running so thick. No wildlife anywhere. I have never seen anything like the pollution. This is where real change needs to take place.
Shenzhen is in Guangdong, that’s like saying you travelled from Dublin to Ireland. What you are probably referring to is the Pearl River Delta region, which is essentially the biggest metro area in the world. While the region is hugely industrialized, the air pollution, especially in Shenzhen, isn’t that bad. It pretty much runs on par with Paris or London.
GZ is better than what is was. New policies some years ago moved industry to the outskirts. One of the worst places is Tangshan up your neck of the woods. Coal, steel and ceramic industry has left it in pretty bad shape. A depressing place.
@Alan – So you are agreeing with my initial comment highlighting the fact that – Unlike here in the west, China does not use clean coal technology?
Come over here and see all the bullshit we have to see through.
We’re fukkd whatever way you look at it. Yeah, China’s only going to get worse and Africa want a piece of the industrialisation pie. We may look back on today as the end of a golden age
It should be noted its not like this all the time. Its based on temp and wind and its cold and calm at the moment up there…
My company has guys based in Tianjin on the fabrication yards for a project in North West Australia and one of the guys sent through pics from there the last few days and it is shocking. The AQI (Air Quality Index) was at 505 which is more than 200 above the ‘hazardous’ threshold. Needless to say I’m glad I’m based in Perth and don’t have to deal with that…..They’ve been office based the last 3 days as it too dodgy to work outside.
have your say