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Omaha Steve

(99,783 posts)
Sat Nov 28, 2015, 10:34 AM Nov 2015

Air pollution in Beijing hits hazardous levels

Source: AP

BEIJING (AP) — Air pollution in Beijing reached hazardous levels on Saturday as smog engulfed large parts of China despite efforts to clean up the foul air.

At noon, the U.S. Embassy in Beijing reported the level of the poisonous, tiny articles of PM2.5 at 391 micrograms per cubic meter. The World Health Organization considers the safe level at 25 micrograms per cubic meter of the particulates.

The city has been shroud in gray smog since Friday, reducing visibility to a few hundred meters (yards).

The Ministry of Environmental Protection has forecast severe pollution for the greater Beijing region, the western part of Shandong province and the northern part of Henan province until Tuesday, when strong winds from the north are expected to blow away air pollutants.

FULL story at link.


People wearing face masks walk across Tiananmen Square on a day with poor air quality in Beijing, Saturday, Nov. 28, 2015. Air pollution in Beijing reached hazardous levels on Saturday as smog engulfed large parts of the country despite efforts to clean up the foul air. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/0a99e9fa81f14a509d9225a9a897c307/air-pollution-beijing-hits-hazardous-levels

21 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Air pollution in Beijing hits hazardous levels (Original Post) Omaha Steve Nov 2015 OP
Capitalism at its best in Communist China. fasttense Nov 2015 #1
Because communism is pollution free? NobodyHere Nov 2015 #9
Really? I had no idea, is it low fat too? fasttense Nov 2015 #10
China is a single party system. Jesus Malverde Nov 2015 #21
China 1980s houston16revival Nov 2015 #2
Message auto-removed Name removed Nov 2015 #3
It will get worse, not better. very sad.. Stuart G Nov 2015 #4
China would probably do something about their pollution if there were not " strong winds from the... Sunlei Nov 2015 #5
Yep, we get some of it here in Korea davidpdx Nov 2015 #17
Free market paradise? mountain grammy Nov 2015 #6
more amazing info jomin41 Nov 2015 #7
Great article. blackspade Nov 2015 #11
Beijing should hire the GOP to take care of the problem elmac Nov 2015 #8
Hey people tiptonic Nov 2015 #12
After the EPA is dismantled... Rafale Nov 2015 #13
China is the greatest danger long term musiclawyer Nov 2015 #14
It was hazardous when I was there in the 1990s. Lance23 Nov 2015 #15
and any complaints about forests, soil, rivers, or air MisterP Nov 2015 #16
This is the tragedy of productivity-at-any-cost. Lance23 Nov 2015 #19
and the promises can't be delivered on by their nature--hence the specter of "voodoo development," MisterP Nov 2015 #20
The worse the pollution the more sick people they are going to have davidpdx Nov 2015 #18
 

fasttense

(17,301 posts)
10. Really? I had no idea, is it low fat too?
Sat Nov 28, 2015, 01:31 PM
Nov 2015

I'm not a supporter of Communism but then China has NOT been a Cummunist country since it switched to Capitalism and signed up with Wal Mart as its distribution center.

houston16revival

(953 posts)
2. China 1980s
Sat Nov 28, 2015, 11:00 AM
Nov 2015

I recall a PBS documentary on China in the early 1980s that showed them building dams with
sheer numbers of laborers ... moving dirt shovel to shovel in miles long lines, and telling
us how organized the culture in all aspects.

Unfettered capitalism is rolling along there now.

Response to Omaha Steve (Original post)

Sunlei

(22,651 posts)
5. China would probably do something about their pollution if there were not " strong winds from the...
Sat Nov 28, 2015, 11:50 AM
Nov 2015

" strong winds from the north are expected to blow away air pollutants"

Many countries just shove off their crap on the rest of the worlds air and water.

davidpdx

(22,000 posts)
17. Yep, we get some of it here in Korea
Sat Nov 28, 2015, 09:52 PM
Nov 2015

But Korea is pretty good at creating high levels of pollution. So we not only get some of the pollution from China, but also what is created here. The pollution from China travels over on dust particles called yellow dust. Here is a site that monitors it in Korea:

http://www.korea.amedd.army.mil/webapp/yellowSand/Default.asp

blackspade

(10,056 posts)
11. Great article.
Sat Nov 28, 2015, 02:58 PM
Nov 2015

'Communist' China is a shining example of unfettered capitalism.
Our oligarchs look to them as their model for our country.

 

elmac

(4,642 posts)
8. Beijing should hire the GOP to take care of the problem
Sat Nov 28, 2015, 12:25 PM
Nov 2015

They would do away with the testing, problem solved!

tiptonic

(765 posts)
12. Hey people
Sat Nov 28, 2015, 03:33 PM
Nov 2015

What"s the problem with pollution? Its great for the health care industry. U people r being "un-merican". Wall street would not be pleased if they knew.

musiclawyer

(2,335 posts)
14. China is the greatest danger long term
Sat Nov 28, 2015, 03:35 PM
Nov 2015

Isis can be dealt with. But China is a gigantic toxic waste site. When all the water and soil is poison
( and we are not that far away ) and all the kleptocrats' children have left the country, you will have a billion people on the move, out, permission granted by neighboring countries or not ...
Our relationship with China is so stupid on so many levels that you can only despair if you think about it

 

Lance23

(17 posts)
15. It was hazardous when I was there in the 1990s.
Sat Nov 28, 2015, 04:35 PM
Nov 2015

They use leaded gas and they burn a lot of coal for fuel. So you get this toxic mixture in the air that is worse than anything in the States. When I left Beijing, I thought I would get a break from the air pollution in the countryside, but no-o. Chairman Mao interpreted Marx's dictum to abolish the difference between the country and the city to mean building factories in the boonies. So no matter where you go in China, you are not far from a belching smokestack. I'm sure it's worse today than it was then, but that's hard for me to imagine, because it was so bad 20 years ago.

MisterP

(23,730 posts)
16. and any complaints about forests, soil, rivers, or air
Sat Nov 28, 2015, 09:31 PM
Nov 2015

are just the West trying to hold Asia back from its destiny: Jakarta and Brasilia also still say that the West denuded everything on their continents, so anything they say is a way to prevent the Third World from catching up; Mao's Seven Child Policy also comes from this sort of thinking ("every mouth comes with a pair of hands&quot

back in the 50s the Third World (a phrase coined by Sauvy, who thought its problem was not nearly enough people, because he was French and had been traumatized by the 20s' population contraction, when they banned abortion as treason to the state) was completely certain that if you dammed every river, soaked the crops in pesticide, and doubled the population you'd "catch up" by, oh, say 1965

the tremendous failure of this vision of the world gave us creationists, 9-11, ISIS, cartels, and leveled forests

fun stuff

 

Lance23

(17 posts)
19. This is the tragedy of productivity-at-any-cost.
Sun Nov 29, 2015, 12:05 AM
Nov 2015

It also leads to crises of overproduction, economic depression, and war.

MisterP

(23,730 posts)
20. and the promises can't be delivered on by their nature--hence the specter of "voodoo development,"
Sun Nov 29, 2015, 12:17 AM
Nov 2015

of figuring that since rich countries have big stadiums ... let's build big stadiums! white elephants show you can afford them!

davidpdx

(22,000 posts)
18. The worse the pollution the more sick people they are going to have
Sat Nov 28, 2015, 09:55 PM
Nov 2015

They need to start doing a better job of addressing the problem or their people are going to pay for the lack of regulations.

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