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Schoolchildren ordered indoors as air pollution cloaks Shanghai

theguardian.com

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Re: Schoolchildren ordered indoors as air pollution cloaks Shanghai

#121

Post by aryastark »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #81

I see this as a difficult to fake signal that China's economic growth is more real than some folks in the West would like to believe. It is similar to the challenges faced by industrial cities in the West as they exploited the massive production capacities created during WW II. Generally the reasoning goes, high pollution from lots of power plants / factories is a function of production of those power plants / factor…

China's growth is being sustained by a development bubble, where they are accumulating the infamous ghost towns. But I've never heard anyone deny the fact that they are doing these things. And, of course, everyone in the US already knows that China makes everything. So I don't know who you are referring to here.

Re: Schoolchildren ordered indoors as air pollution cloaks Shanghai

#122

Post by Houshalter »

icebraining wrote: post #114
aspensmonster wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess we didn't have to wait until November 2019. But at least we have "cheap" consumer goods!

And Chinese workers have stuff like food. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poverty_in_China#Poverty_reduct...

We could just give people food without having to make stuff for us in return. The world does not have a food shortage.

Re: Schoolchildren ordered indoors as air pollution cloaks Shanghai

#123

Post by matthewrudy »

nobody10 wrote: post #106
matthewrudy wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I lived in Hong Kong 2010 to 2013, but actually ended up living in Shenzhen for most of 2011. 18 pages of my passport are taken up with visas and stamps from the mainland (plus several more from HK and Taiwan) As a Hong Kong resident I had a 6 month visa and then a 1 year China visa. Notably, though, both times it was a 30 day maximum stay, and as a UK citizen they still always just give me 30 days per entry. I know…

so you mean "I love Taiwan"

they should use that on their marketing

"Taiwan - THE Greater China"

Re: Schoolchildren ordered indoors as air pollution cloaks Shanghai

#124

Post by ddeck »

saalweachter wrote: post #109
Sharlin wrote: post #16

I wonder how this compares to the worst smogs experienced in London and elsewhere before the West got its act together with regard to particulate pollution. Apparently the Great Smog of 1952 killed on the order of 10000 people in just a few days. I'm not sure many young people nowadays realize how horrible the situation was just half a century ago. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Smog_of_1952

It really irks me whenever there's a talk about nuclear energy. Nuclear power may have its own set of challenges, but coming from the baseline of coal it's hard to do worse.

Agreed. A recent Stuttgart University report (commissioned by Greenpeace) estimated 22,000 premature deaths per year in the EU alone from coal-fired power stations. [1]

I've seen estimates in the US of 10-20,000 annually depending on the source. e.g. [2], [3].

As someone who lives in a city state so small that the coal-fired power stations are literally next door to housing, I too wish there was more attention given to this.

[1] http://www.greenpeace.org/international/Global/international...

[2] http://spectrum.ieee.org/energywise/energy/renewables/coal-p...

[3] http://www.catf.us/fossil/problems/power_plants/

Re: Schoolchildren ordered indoors as air pollution cloaks Shanghai

#125

Post by Angostura »

bigdubs wrote: post #88
nabla9 wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

London suffered from bad smogs almost century before they did anything to them. Great Smog was just one incident.

Hence the term "London Fog" which was not water.

"pea-souper" was a common term

Certainly, when I was a kid, a trip into London was an adventure. You knew when you were near the centre of town because the buildings were all coal black.

Re: Schoolchildren ordered indoors as air pollution cloaks Shanghai

#126

Post by akx »

yk wrote: post #50
ck2 wrote: post #2

Unbelievable http://i.imgur.com/lef99jm.jpg Has to take years off your life to be breathing that.

The sky above the port was the color of a TV, switched to a dead channel.

http://lowlightmixes.blogspot.fi/2011/02/television-sky.html

Re: Schoolchildren ordered indoors as air pollution cloaks Shanghai

#127

Post by deegles »

ddeck wrote: post #124
saalweachter wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It really irks me whenever there's a talk about nuclear energy. Nuclear power may have its own set of challenges, but coming from the baseline of coal it's hard to do worse.

Agreed. A recent Stuttgart University report (commissioned by Greenpeace) estimated 22,000 premature deaths per year in the EU alone from coal-fired power stations. [1] I've seen estimates in the US of 10-20,000 annually depending on the source. e.g. [2], [3]. As someone who lives in a city state so small that the coal-fired power stations are literally next door to housing, I too wish there was more attention given…

Don't forget that burning coal releases more radioactivity into the environment than nuclear power (because of trace amounts of uranium).

Re: Schoolchildren ordered indoors as air pollution cloaks Shanghai

#128

Post by thaumasiotes »

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #95
thaumasiotes wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Speaking as someone who lives in China... The firewall won't bother you (assuming you wish to get around it); it's there for the masses. Any idiot with a US citizenship can get a tourist visa, lasting a year and having only the requirement "visit Hong Kong (or any other non-China location) every three months" (I was unambitious, and got a two-month one). Someone of my acquaintance says he paid a visa-help company $10…

VPNs around the firewall are getting less reliable everymonth. The visa changes made in July are much more strict than before, getting a one year non work visa is only possible if you have Chinese family. The visa companies from before no longer exist. But I have a working visa so I don't care.

My one-year tourist visa was issued July 12th. Did I just squeak by?

Re: Schoolchildren ordered indoors as air pollution cloaks Shanghai

#129

Post by jamesaguilar »

petermcd wrote: post #43
jkimmel wrote: post #12

Is there a level of public outcry regarding the pollution? I realize that criticism may be somewhat muted given the nature of the PRC government, but I can't imagine a city as large and cosmopolitan as Shanghai merely accepting this level of environmental mismanagement. Unfortunately, articles regarding Beijing/Shanghai pollution usually fail to mention public sentiment above the level of brief individual anecdote ("…

Fair question. My impression here in Beijing is that people are highly dissatisfied with the pollution situation. They don't want lung cancer and they don't want their kids breathing this crap. That being said, the government is taking steps to address the issue. Specifically, due to an outcry on Weibo last year about having to get PM2.5 numbers from the US embassy's twitter feed and iPhone app (twitter is blocked, b…

I also think I read that more than 50% of the nuclear plants currently being built are in China. That is a big way that they will eventually combat this problem.

Re: Schoolchildren ordered indoors as air pollution cloaks Shanghai

#130

Post by mortenjorck »

yk wrote: post #50
ck2 wrote: post #2

Unbelievable http://i.imgur.com/lef99jm.jpg Has to take years off your life to be breathing that.

The sky above the port was the color of a TV, switched to a dead channel.

There's always Beijing: http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--W3r4NvkHFg/UPpFQzRcNWI/AAAAAAAACB...
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