“crazy bad” air in Beijing

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/dec/17/beijing-smog-pollution-red-alert-declared-in-china-capital-and-21-other-cities
Beijing authorities have declared a five-day pollution “red alert”, shutting schools, ordering thousands of vehicles off the roads and telling residents to stay indoors, after the Chinese capital was enveloped by a shroud of toxic smog that is expected to linger until Wednesday.

The warning – the first since Beijing’s inaugural red alert in December last year – was officially implemented at 4.20pm on Friday as a nicotine-tinged haze rolled into the city.

“Smog invades Beijing,” tweeted Xinhua, China’s official news agency, alongside a timelapse video capturing the arrival of what city officials have controversially decided to classify as a “meteorological disaster”.
see also
http://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2055229/smog-blankets-beijing-years-first-red-alert-comes

Beijing 'trapped under giant toxic cloud'
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-38380325
The Chinese capital has seen hazardous smog for four days, but how bad is it?


Stephen McDonell (video) reports.

http://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2056009/continued-heavy-smog-sparks-massive-flight-delays-and-around

Hundreds of flights cancelled in Beijing as thick smog lays siege to capital

Travel between the capital and Hong Kong disrupted as air pollution cuts visibility to less than 200 metres

At least 23 cities in the north had issued red alerts for air pollution, and smog covered a seventh of the country, China News ­Service reported.

http://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2057162/chinese-media-demand-action-smog-christmas-brings-more
A commentary in the Qianjiang Evening News said some authorities were under the illusion that smog was a natural phenomenon.

“The pollutants causing smog are the result of human activity. Smog is not a meteorological disaster,” the commentary said.

“If we don’t understand that smog is caused by people, we cannot solve the problem and [officials] will just pass the buck.”

http://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2056850/china-names-and-shames-heavy-polluters-during-weeks
China names and shames heavy polluters during this week’s thick smog

Steel firms and paper mills among companies blamed for contributing to the air pollution that blanketed much of the country’s north over the past few days

http://www.shanghaidaily.com/nation/China-to-levy-taxes-to-fight-pollution/shdaily.shtml
CHINA’S top legislature passed a law yesterday that will levy specific environmental protection taxes on industry for the first time from January 1, 2018.

The law will be key to fighting pollution, said Wang Jianfan, director of the Ministry of Finance tax policy department.

China has collected a “pollutant discharge fee” since 1979. In 2015, it collected 17.3 billion yuan (US$2.5 billion) from some 280,000 businesses, Wang said.

However, some local governments exploit loopholes and exempt enterprises that are otherwise big contributors to fiscal revenue. For years, regulators have suggested replacing the fee system with a law.

“The new law will reduce interference from government,” Wang told a press conference. It would also improve taxpayers’ environmental awareness, forcing companies to upgrade technology and shift to cleaner production.

and the smog goes on ...

http://www.shanghaidaily.com/nation/Heavy-smog-causing-chaos-for-holiday-travelers/shdaily.shtml

HEAVY smog in northern China caused hundreds of flights to be canceled and highways to shut yesterday, disrupting the first day of the New Year holiday.

Large parts of the north were hit by hazardous smog in mid-December, leading authorities to order hundreds of factories to close and to restrict motorists to cut emissions.

The latest bout of air pollution began on Friday and is expected to persist until Thursday, although it should ease slightly today.

In Beijing, 126 flights were canceled at the city’s main airport and all buses to neighboring cities were suspended.

In neighboring Tianjin, the smog was not as serious but visibility much worse, with more than 300 flights canceled at its airport and conditions not expected to improve in the near term, the city government said. Highways into and out of the city were closed.

In Shijiazhuang, capital of Hebei Province that surrounds most of Beijing, about two dozen flights were canceled and eight diverted to other airports because of the smog, the People’s Daily reported.

A total of 24 Chinese cities have issued red alerts for the current round of pollution, which mandate measures such as limiting car usage and closing factories, while 21 have issued orange alerts, including Beijing and Tianjin.

http://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2060047/great-smog-linfen-overlooked-chemical-killer-lurks

The Chinese city of Linfen and the Great Smog of London are separated by half a world and more than half a century but they are linked by a common killer.

On Wednesday night, levels of hazardous sulphur dioxide in ­Linfen, Shanxi province, surged to more than 1,000 micrograms per cubic metre. The pollution persisted until Thursday morning, hitting a peak of 1,303 micrograms.

That compares to the World Health Organisation’s recommendation that people should not be exposed to more than 500 micrograms per cubic metre for more than 10 minutes or 20 micrograms over 24 hours.

Like PM2.5 – the small smog particles most hazardous to human health – sulphur dioxide can worsen chronic respiratory diseases and poison lungs. It is a major component of air pollution but not as closely watched.

http://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2059895/endangered-bird-faints-hunger-after-failing-catch-prey-chinas

The choking smog surrounding much of China is affecting not just humans but animals as well, causing an endangered bird to faint from hunger after failing to catch prey due to low visibility.

The hawk-like bird of prey, called a buteo, was found in a wheat field in northern China on Tuesday, lying still and looking weak, Dahe Daily reported.

http://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2060229/intense-smog-global-problem-says-chinas-environment

The environmental authorities will also set up a pollution monitoring network on highways to catch high emission vehicles. A heavy diesel truck generates 200 times the pollutants of a sedan. Roadside laser cameras can identify passing vehicles and measure their emissions, Chen said.

Vehicles that did not meet environment standards would be fined and banned from the roads.

Fighting smog required many changes in industrial structure, energy consumption and lifestyles, so process would be a long one, Chen told Xinhua.

“It is a battle against a heavily fortified target, and it will last a long time,” he said.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-38545649

Beijing authorities had earlier announced that they would begin installing air purifiers in some of the city's schools and kindergartens. They were already ordered to stop all outdoor activities.

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-38587580

It's like a re-enactment of a 1970s government information film on surviving a nuclear holocaust. Only it's not radiation we're trying to keep at bay, but the fallout from fossil fuels.

...
China's air pollution problem is now so bad that its effects are measured in more than a million premature deaths a year and markedly reduced life expectancy - an average of more than five years or so - in the worst-affected regions.

Over the past few weeks, a period of particularly acute and prolonged air pollution, the average air quality in Beijing has been well above 200 micrograms of PM2.5 particles per cubic metre - many times the maximum safe limit.

http://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2062735/beijing-should-heed-growing-public-anger-chinas-filthy-air?spm=0.0.0.0.iDJf9D

Public anger is growing, however, as more and more people become aware of the harm of toxic air. If the government continues to allow this filthy air to poison the people, then the haze will become politically poisonous, too, and inflict pain on the ruling government.