344 2.5 AQI right now in Beijing. I just bought a $1k air purifier to cope last week to cope with what is going to be a very bad winter.
What model?
Schoolchildren ordered indoors as air pollution cloaks Shanghai
111–120 of 216 posts
Re: Schoolchildren ordered indoors as air pollution cloaks Shanghai
#112Re: Schoolchildren ordered indoors as air pollution cloaks Shanghai
#113Earlier quoted context omitted.
The sky above the port was the color of a TV, switched to a dead channel.
It is kind of funny that future generations may interpret that opening to mean a clear blue sky.
"The sky was the perfect untroubled blue of a television screen, tuned to a dead channel." - Neil Gaiman, Neverwhere
Re: Schoolchildren ordered indoors as air pollution cloaks Shanghai
#114I've seen sci-fi depictions of over-industrialized mega-city scapes, but I never thought I'd actually get to see a picture of one. To call that surreal is an understatement.
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...
Re: Schoolchildren ordered indoors as air pollution cloaks Shanghai
#115There's also a lack of understanding on the effects of this pollution, especially as it becomes more regular. I worked and lived in China for 7 years and just getting parents to close the windows of an obstetric hospital with newborns was difficult enough. There is a belief that "fresh air" is always better than what is in the room. When I asked nurses about the public health impact of this pollution on children, the…
Had the exact same problem with my parents in New Delhi. Father was suffering from lung disease. Wanted to sit outside on the balcony - fresh air, apparently. I tried to explain to him that the air is laden with dangerous levels of particulate pollutants. He didn't care. He died earlier this year.
PM10/2.5 levels continue to be disastrous (1900+/700+ on some days especially around Diwali). Mother still likes to open balcony doors and room windows to let 'fresh air' flow through the house.
Neither are/were uneducated. Post grads in SCIENCE FFS!
Cannot. Explain. It.
Re: Schoolchildren ordered indoors as air pollution cloaks Shanghai
#116I 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
Has there been any long-term research done on the health effects of particulate pollution? I was in Beijing last winter when the air pollution was nearing record highs, and every time I blew my nose after returning from being outside, it would be full of black mucus. That has to be a wakeup call. In addition, when I returned to the states (Chicago), even the air around O'Hare Airport - probably one of the more pollut…
>Has there been any long-term research done on the health effects of particulate pollution?
Yes. The 2013 WHO report "Health Effects of Particulate Matter" [1] provides a reasonable summary.
Primary long term impacts are increased mortality from cardiovascular and respiratory diseases and from lung cancer.
Recent findings indicate no real safe level, with increased mortality observed at even very low levels (as seen in "clean" developed cities).
[1] http://www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/189051/H...
Re: Schoolchildren ordered indoors as air pollution cloaks Shanghai
#117Earlier 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.
yeah, the people I know who've had visa problems are mostly entrepreneurs living in China on a business visa.
Re: Schoolchildren ordered indoors as air pollution cloaks Shanghai
#118Curious... from a cancer-risk standpoint, this is the equivalent of smoking how many cigarettes that day?
One? Ten? A pack? Two packs? Fifty packs?
Or do we not have enough data to even guess?
Re: Schoolchildren ordered indoors as air pollution cloaks Shanghai
#119And yet your President is still prioritizing coal over Canadian oilsands....
Re: Schoolchildren ordered indoors as air pollution cloaks Shanghai
#120I 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
Has there been any long-term research done on the health effects of particulate pollution? I was in Beijing last winter when the air pollution was nearing record highs, and every time I blew my nose after returning from being outside, it would be full of black mucus. That has to be a wakeup call. In addition, when I returned to the states (Chicago), even the air around O'Hare Airport - probably one of the more pollut…
I usually get my fair bit of black mucus in Central London. Not sure what that means but some places don't smell that good. For example, Queen's Gate road in Kensington has a very strong smell of gas.