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China's Toxic Sky
JAN 30, 2013 |
Since the beginning of this year, the levels of air pollution in Beijing have been dangerously high, with thick clouds of smog chasing people indoors, disrupting air travel, and affecting the health of millions. The past two weeks have been especially bad -- at one point the pollution level measured 40 times recommended safety levels. Authorities are taking short-term measures to combat the current crisis, shutting down some factories and limiting government auto usage. However, long-term solutions seem distant, as China's use of coal continues to rise, and the government remains slow to acknowledge and address the problems. * Starting with photo #2, a four-part set of these images is interactive, allowing you to click the photo and 'clear the air', viewing a difference over time.
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http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2013/01/chinas-toxic-sky/100449/
Anyone who claims to want "less regulation" should be forced to breathe this crap until they see the light. Because this is what would result from Ayn Randian Libertarian "dreams"
Egalitarian Thug
(12,448 posts)visibility less than three blocks. Even now, although it is much, much better, one can go months without ever seeing the San Gabriels.
I'll never forget the first time I saw that there are these huge frigging mountains there, I was like "how could I possibly not have seen those in all this time?"
obamanut2012
(26,094 posts)Egalitarian Thug
(12,448 posts)Kablooie
(18,637 posts)It was a rare day we could see Mount Wilson which was about 3 miles away.
rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)KT2000
(20,586 posts)My SIL is scheduled to go there in a couple weeks. I suggested she not go.
Kablooie
(18,637 posts)Posteritatis
(18,807 posts)aint_no_life_nowhere
(21,925 posts)and the air pollution was dreadful on the particular days I was there. I was told that Beijing lies in some kind of basin that traps layers of air for days at a time without very much circulation.
I am very thankful for the EPA.
Let's expand the protections of our air even further.
nadinbrzezinski
(154,021 posts)Look at Mexico City, used to e that bad. It took 20 years and regulations to clean up the air, for the most part.
DainBramaged
(39,191 posts)This is ecnomic growth, and this is the cost. In the modern world. And people wonder who contributes more to climate change, the US or China and also India.
freshwest
(53,661 posts)DainBramaged
(39,191 posts)For those being born today, their journey will be difficult...........
freshwest
(53,661 posts)I don't remember what the components of the smog are, but they are toxic - it's not just coal soot. Where I grew up, the doctors told me everyone had adapted by doing shallow breathing.
When I would return for a visit at about a hundred miles out you could see a pall of reddish brown pollution hanging above everything. When drove into it, even with the windows up and the air conditioning, I got migraines.
I didn't get better until I got back here. The people there are imprisoned by the freedom granted the polluters.
ReRe
(10,597 posts).... as soon as I walked off the plane. Seriously.
Wonder how much that garbage they call air is caused by multinational corporations? After all, that's part of the reason they love to out-sosurce everything to China... NO REGULATIONS (the main reason, of course, being cheap labor.) It makes me gasp just looking at it.
freshwest
(53,661 posts)Lone_Star_Dem
(28,158 posts)I'd suffocate in that toxic mire they're forced to breath. The reality is, everything they do to the planet we all pay for in the end. The same applies for us here in the US. We can't keep abusing our world and expect to not have to pay the toll.