mcsluggo Posted January 15, 2013 Share Posted January 15, 2013 I lived there in 1999/2000, and even THEN at the end of the day you would basically just screw two giant boogers out of your nose that you could write with, because they were the color and consistency of pencil lead. It is orders-of-magnitude worse now ---------- Post added January-15th-2013 at 10:26 PM ---------- You have to start somewhere. Better we have it then not. Maybe the people of those other countries will eventually wake up and demand regulations so that their air is clear and not like fog. Frankly I don't even want companies in America that pollute at will with no concern to the effect they cause. Those people are going to do it anyways, so IMO the best way to battle back is through global initiatives to get clean, but that has to start somewhere. i never looked deep into the issue (and factors that would complicate implimentation)... but i didn't understand why Stephen Chu was eviscerated for suggesting that the US (and other rich countries) should apply carbon tariffs on goods from countries with lax environmental standards.... http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123733297926563315.html ---------- Post added January-15th-2013 at 10:27 PM ---------- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeluCopter29 Posted January 16, 2013 Share Posted January 16, 2013 Let the free market sort it out! Letting the free market figure out clean energy doesn't sound bad to me.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Predicto Posted January 16, 2013 Share Posted January 16, 2013 Letting the free market figure out clean energy doesn't sound bad to me.... Yep. It's called a carbon tax, or if you can't sell that politically, you can settle for a cap and trade scheme. Free market solutions at their best. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedskinsFan44 Posted January 16, 2013 Share Posted January 16, 2013 I would bet that China will see it's people call for tougher environmental regulations akin to ours in the not too distant future. American's forget about the burning rivers and horrendous air quality in places like Pittsburgh before the EPA. Environmental regulations were an answer to a problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skin'emAlive Posted January 16, 2013 Share Posted January 16, 2013 I can tell you all right now, this past weekend here was ridiculous. The pictures cant fully explain the terrible quality of the air. Basically everyone locked themselves indoors for the weekend. You can walk outside for 5-10 minutes and your clothes smell like you have been in a bar all night. ---------- Post added January-15th-2013 at 09:44 PM ---------- Here was the pollution level from outside my door this past weekend. [/img] ---------- Post added January-15th-2013 at 09:48 PM ---------- Doesn't a poster (or two) here live in Beijing? Maybe they could shed mor elight on just how bad it is, on a day to day basis. People here are upset, but they know they cant do anything about it. There is no one to complain to. Most people have just accepted it for the most part. Which is sad, but what can you do. At best, all you can do is spend alot of money on one of the nicer masks that have filters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Koolblue13 Posted January 16, 2013 Share Posted January 16, 2013 At best' date=' all you can do is spend alot of money on one of the nicer masks that have filters.[/quote']That is ****ing insane. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skin'emAlive Posted January 16, 2013 Share Posted January 16, 2013 That is ****ing insane. What is insane is that today is the first day i have seen the sun for the most part in 2 weeks. Interesting side note: Every time there is a national holiday, or there is a big fuss about the pollution here ( on an international scale) the smog surprisingly disappears for a few days. This is no coincidence however, because the gov seeds the clouds during these times to create perfect blue skies. At first i didnt believe it. But when the pollution is like this for weeks straight, and then on the first day of a holiday, the weather is perfect, things begin to seem suspect. Cloud seeding is where you shoot rockets into the sky that alter the weather. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sikbug Posted January 16, 2013 Share Posted January 16, 2013 What is insane is that today is the first day i have seen the sun for the most part in 2 weeks. Interesting side note: Every time there is a national holiday' date=' or there is a big fuss about the pollution here ( on an international scale) the smog surprisingly disappears for a few days. This is no coincidence however, because the gov seeds the clouds during these times to create perfect blue skies. At first i didnt believe it. But when the pollution is like this for weeks straight, and then on the first day of a holiday, the weather is perfect, things begin to seem suspect. Cloud seeding is where you shoot rockets into the sky that alter the weather.[/quote'] I heard they did that for the Olympics as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
China Posted March 4, 2013 Author Share Posted March 4, 2013 Mixture of Sandstorms and Toxic Air Push Beijing Pollution to Extreme Level Beijing and other parts of northern China were stung by hazardous air pollution levels as strong winds blew a sandstorm through the region. Air in the capital turned a yellowish hue as sand from China’s arid northwest blew in, turning the sky into a noxious soup of smog and dust. Geographically close to the Gobi Desert, Beijing and other northern cities are particularly susceptible to sandstorms. The city usually suffers sandstorms from late February to mid-April. Last month, Beijing suffered 16 days of haze, the most since 1954. It has brought chronic bad air to much of China. Air pollution readings were so bad that they were compared to living in an airport smoking lounge. For now, people in Beijing endure a noxious and potentially dangerous mix of sand and fine particulate pollution … Beijing’s municipal government issued a yellow-haze warning while state media urged citizens to stay indoors or to take precautions such as donning face masks before venturing outside. Click on the link for the full article Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corcaigh Posted March 4, 2013 Share Posted March 4, 2013 Air pollution readings were so bad that they were compared to living in an airport smoking lounge. I don't know why, but that just made me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ixcuincle Posted March 4, 2013 Share Posted March 4, 2013 Always fascinated by any news regarding China. Was watching 60 minutes yesterday and they were talking about the real estate market in China. Millions of Chinese simply buy up homes yet don't live in them. There is a huge housing market boom right now in China, but the threat of the bubble bursting is ever-present. Was a good watch last night. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Posted March 4, 2013 Share Posted March 4, 2013 Always fascinated by any news regarding China. Was watching 60 minutes yesterday and they were talking about the real estate market in China. Millions of Chinese simply buy up homes yet don't live in them. There is a huge housing market boom right now in China, but the threat of the bubble bursting is ever-present. Was a good watch last night. Yeah, I know that, for myself, when I think of China, I think of slave labor, crooked government officials killing dissidents, and pollution. But then I see articles, for example, about fake Apple stores, that are so good that even the employees think they're working for Apple, and where the reporter isn;t sure if they might be selling actual Apple products. And I get news from the construction of the new Disney over there. And the thought occurs to me that Disney isn't just building a Disney over there because they like cheap labor. Yes, Disney loves cheap labor. But that's not the only reason they're building a second park over there. They also expect to have customers. Thousands, millions of customers. Millions of customers who can afford to spend thousands of dollars each, for a Disney vacation. And I reflect that slaves don't buy Disney vacations. Or iPads. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ixcuincle Posted March 4, 2013 Share Posted March 4, 2013 I saw some pictures earlier this year of abandoned Chinese theme parks. They built a huge replica of a British town which is essentially empty. No one goes there. It's kind of spooky, but intriguing at the same time. And there are a lot more like that. Abandoned Chinese theme parks, cities, shopping malls, entire towns just empty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corcaigh Posted March 4, 2013 Share Posted March 4, 2013 And I reflect that slaves don't buy Disney vacations. Or iPads. Not so many decades ago it was true that you were better off being a janitor in the West, than being a doctor in China. But those times have long gone. Hans Rosling does great work in comparing changes in GDP and outcomes in various nations around the world. In the following video he shows changes over the last 200 years. In particular, he says modern Shanghai dwellers have a similar wealth profile to Italy. And look at this short video on wealth distribution in the USA, and you might draw some interesting conclusions about what percentage will be going on Disney vacations if the trend continues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dfitzo53 Posted March 4, 2013 Share Posted March 4, 2013 Interesting videos, but I think Hans Rosling should at least mention the way he graphed wealth. It's on a logarithmic scale, meaning that even now the major European countries are ten times as far along the wealth axis than China, not twice as far. It's pretty misleading visually for people who aren't paying attention. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corcaigh Posted March 4, 2013 Share Posted March 4, 2013 Interesting videos, but I think Hans Rosling should at least mention the way he graphed wealth. It's on a logarithmic scale, meaning that even now the major European countries are ten times as far along the wealth axis than China, not twice as far. It's pretty misleading visually for people who aren't paying attention. It shows trends, which I think is the key. And you could argue that the chart equally hides that they are ten times further along than they were. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dfitzo53 Posted March 4, 2013 Share Posted March 4, 2013 It shows trends, which I think is the key. And you could argue that the chart equally hides that they are ten times further along than they were. That's true too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
China Posted April 2, 2013 Author Share Posted April 2, 2013 Air Pollution Linked to 1.2 Million Premature Deaths in China BEIJING — Outdoor air pollution contributed to 1.2 million premature deaths in China in 2010, nearly 40 percent of the global total, according to a new summary of data from a scientific study on leading causes of death worldwide. Figured another way, the researchers said, China’s toll from pollution was the loss of 25 million healthy years of life from the population. The data on which the analysis is based was first presented in the ambitious 2010 Global Burden of Disease Study, which was published in December in The Lancet, a British medical journal. The authors decided to break out numbers for specific countries and present the findings at international conferences. The China statistics were offered at a forum in Beijing on Sunday. “We have been rolling out the India- and China-specific numbers, as they speak more directly to national leaders than regional numbers,” said Robert O’Keefe, the vice president of the Health Effects Institute, a research organization that is helping to present the study. The organization is partly financed by the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the global motor vehicle industry. What the researchers called “ambient particulate matter pollution” was the fourth-leading risk factor for deaths in China in 2010, behind dietary risks, high blood pressure and smoking. Air pollution ranked seventh on the worldwide list of risk factors, contributing to 3.2 million deaths in 2010. By comparison with China, India, which also has densely populated cities grappling with similar levels of pollution, had 620,000 premature deaths in 2010 because of outdoor air pollution, the study found. That was deemed to be the sixth most common killer in South Asia. The study was led by an institute at the University of Washington and several partner universities and institutions, including the World Health Organization. Click on the link for the full article Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
China Posted August 29, 2013 Author Share Posted August 29, 2013 Apparently the smog in Hong Kong is so bad that tourist guides have set up posters of with clears skies for tourists to take pictures in front of: Hong Kong phooey! Region's smog is so bad, desperate tourism chiefs set up posters of sunny skyline so holidaymakers can take some nice photos Click on the link for the full article Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
China Posted October 21, 2013 Author Share Posted October 21, 2013 China smog emergency shuts city of 11 million people (Reuters) - Choking smog all but shut down one of northeastern China's largest cities on Monday, forcing schools to suspended classes, snarling traffic and closing the airport, in the country's first major air pollution crisis of the winter. An index measuring PM2.5, or particulate matter with a diameter of 2.5 micrometers (PM2.5), reached a reading of 1,000 in some parts of Harbin, the gritty capital of northeastern Heilongjiang province and home to some 11 million people. A level above 300 is considered hazardous, while the World Health Organisation recommends a daily level of no more than 20. The smog not only forced all primary and middle schools to suspend classes, but shut the airport and some public bus routes, the official Xinhua news agency reported, blaming the emergency on the first day of the heating being turned on in the city for winter. Visibility was reportedly reduced to 10 meters. The smog is expected to continue for the next 24 hours. Click on the link for the full article Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Sinister Posted October 21, 2013 Share Posted October 21, 2013 Jesus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Botched Posted October 21, 2013 Share Posted October 21, 2013 Simply unreal. You have to wonder how bad it will have to get before they make a serious attempt to fix it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TD_washingtonredskins Posted October 21, 2013 Share Posted October 21, 2013 The picture in that article is shocking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkinInsite Posted October 21, 2013 Share Posted October 21, 2013 It's either burn coal or freeze to death. I'm putting in EVO charger everywhere and force people to buy Teslas if i'm the Chinese Politburo. Hell they have the money/power to replace all the cars with electric go karts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Posted October 21, 2013 Share Posted October 21, 2013 Is China's air pollution because of cars? Maybe it's just my poor stereotype, but I thought they didn't have that many. (Although, I could see the wisdom of trying to get people to drive electric before they get bunches of cars, too.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.