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NASA Data Reveals China's Industrial Air Pollution
eldavojohn writes "China's skyrocketing industrialism comes at a price to the environment, according to Canadian scientists who used NASA data to publish a report on worldwide air pollution (PDF) in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives. The biggest problem appears to be a bright red mass in Northeastern China around the Yangtze River Delta — a rapidly developing piece of China's explosive economy. There doesn't seem to be a lot of acknowledgment from the state media, but blogs are picking it up as one of the few sources of data on air pollution for the area. The sad fact is that particulate matter in the air less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter is not classified as pollution by the Chinese government, so they have no official measurements to provide. If you're in Shanghai and looking for a breath of fresh air, you've got quite the journey ahead of you."
Air Pollutes You!
Official government website for the air quality in Shanghai. Decent records, and public.
http://www.envir.gov.cn/Eng/Airep/index.asp
Ain't that huge already by pollution "standards"?
This is more evidence supporting the "Race to the Bottom" argument. China isn't known for environmental protections.
By the way, on the diagram, the northwestern region showing elevated levels is the Gobi desert, but that isn't where the highest levels are.
In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is usually crucified.
Well of course China is going to create pollution hand over fist, these are the guys in business that seem to play by their own rules when it comes to anything and everything as long as it doesn't land them into too much hot water with the rest of the world - and if it does, then it is okay as long as the money keeps pouring in. Just in the last few days they imposed sanctions on Japan to solve a completely political agenda! I have even read articles where they installed "scrubbers" on coal fired stations because it was demanded of them, but then happily ran the stations without turning them on as the specifications only demanded that they be INSTALLED.
The only thing that these guys listen to is the dollars rolling in or not rolling in. Choose what products you buy to support the types of governments that you want in power. It is the most powerful thing you can do.
Moved to http://soylentnews.org/. You are invited to join us too!
How come most of the northern part of Africa and Middle East are as red as China? As far as I know those countries aren't that rich or industrialized to have more pollution than most of EUA and Europe... Could it be they're counting sand as air particle pollution agents?
Official government website for the air quality in Shanghai. Decent records, and public. http://www.envir.gov.cn/Eng/Airep/index.asp
The problem is that those numbers trend downwards from 2004 to 2010. Yet ask anyone who has lived here which way they think air quality has moved from 2004 to 2010 ...
This is why many environmentalist pushes to have us cut down on usage are not going to save anything. Sure we should all change our light bulbs but our only real chance to clean up the environment is a massive public push to increase science spending on all fronts. Turning off our AC isn't going to cut it. Even if we do it a bunch of countries like India and China are going to make it moot point and you can be damn sure it'd be war if we actually tried to stop those countries from improving their livelihoods.
While many people talk about China taking a long view of things, this is not at all true of China today. In general the nation operates in a very short sighted manner. Do what is best today, never mind tomorrow. This includes things like pollution, but also more simple things like business dealings.
On a large scale this is just a result of the kind of government they have. Like most authoritarian, command and control types of governments they are good at focusing on something and making it happen, but not good at watching many issues at the same time. They are also good at ignoring problems if they don't wish them to be problems. That is what's going on here. The government is very focused on economic growth, because they want a strong China and that is what keeps them in power. So long as the economy is rapidly growing, people will overlook much else. They also don't want pollution to be a problem so it isn't, to them. They just ignore it as though it'll go away.
Of course in the long term, this is going to have to change. A system like that is sustainable for only so long. Problems have to be dealt with. It'll be interesting to see what China does, if they start to acknowledge the problems in their current setup and work to correct them, or just ignore everything until a big implosion happens.
China still has less than half the GDP of the US, and the US remains the world's largest manufacturer. With that in mind compare N. America to China in NASA's map. The planet would clearly be best served by a trade war that pulls industry back into the west where regulation exists.
It's interesting to see that in Australia the highest concentrations of particulate matter are in the desert where nobody lives as opposed to the eastern coastline where the majority of industry is. This makes me a little suspicious of the low-end of the scale, but it could be due to airborne particulates from soil erosion.
I don't care if the chinaman wallows in the myre !! so long as I can get a $100 German part for $12 !! Enough of the WEST supporting the Germans supporting the gypsies, turks, and muslims, and greeks, and lazy-stasi-krauts !!
in Northeastern China around the Yangtze River Delta
When did Yangtze River Delta move to Northeastern China?
since everything is made in China and this country heavily depends on coal fuel for the major energy source.
Remember People.
This is a particulate map. Not a noxious gas map.
The reason for the apparent high levels of pollution over the desert regions is due to dust from well, the deserts.
This doesn't mean China gets a break on this one tho since China isn't an arid region and they don't have the deserts to blame the particulate levels on.
Recently a Chinese delegation visited one of Australia's woolgrowing areas. At the end of an interview conducted by ABC Radio the interviewer asked, "What most excites you about this trip?" The reply was, "The fresh air." If you're interested you can download the four minute interview as an MP3 from http://www.abc.net.au/rural/content/2010/s3017529.htm (see the sidebar).
The only reason China is cranking out solar panels like there's no tomorrow? The answer is two-fold:
1) there was a HUGE and growing global market for them starting in 2007-2008 (when many of these solar companies were founded/bolstered) and
2) the Chinese government is subsidizing the unholy hell out of these companies at the same time, so as to under-cut international pricing.
Taken together, the overall plan (and reason for the subsidies) involves cornering the market on mass-produced 'green energy' goods. Notice that they're also pushing like mad to become the top wind-turbine manufacturer as well.
Long-term, its a smart strategy - when the industrialized world finds oil too pricey, guess who will be around selling them cheap and plentiful solar panels, wind turbines, etc? Meanwhile, the company owners are still making money like mad thanks to the subsidies.
Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
When China was resolutely Communist, you Westerners were always barking about the utopia and freedoms and the Golden Age that would follow if they adopted capitalism. Now that China had shown (as they had historically always been) better capitalists than Westerners and as a results are gaining stature as a world power (again, as they had historically been), it is all environment this, air pollution that. Make up your mind. And have you not forgotten your recent oil spill disaster, never mind the continent sized forests you mowed down and the countless species you drove to extinction to be pontificating on what other countries should do? Western countries got to where they are now due to the very polluting Industrial Revolution. Do you think other countries will want to stay an agricultural backwater forever? Maybe become bucolic tourist atractions for Western tourists to see Giant Pandas and half naked villagers knee deep in rice fields, framed by picturesque majestic mountains in the background. Then, after many glasses of Martinis served by discreet native servants, you jet back to your mega cities and drive home in your luxury cars. Give me a break.
China is horrible and will get worst. The problem is, that if America follows EU's example on taking care of CO2 and Mercury, then a number of other nations will join China in this approach. The reason is that they will have a strong incentive to try and steal the commerce. The only way to quickly accomplish that, is to build coal plants. Lots of them. All without scrubbers. Or like China, install the scrubbers, but do not run them. China is required to install these per a treaty with Japan, but the treaty does not require that they be ran.
The only way out of this is for the west to put a tax on all goods based on where the good AND the most expensive part comes from and the amount of CO2 that is emitted from those locations. For imported goods, catch them at the border. For all others, catch them at wholesale -> retailer. The important part is that it be based on CO2 PER SQ KM. Why? Because when a place gets successful, then ppl will flow into there. If based on emissions per ppl, then it will allow for more emissions from a location (city, county, state, or nation) upon the flow of ppl there. Basically, you reward a location by allowing them to emit more rather than having them control their emissions.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
it has a lot more to do with their fixing their Yuan against the dollar, rather than cheap labor.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
A bit nonplus about the pollution all over Sahara desert (sandstorms as others have indicated). ....could they?).
And I guess the satellite malfunctioned over the Australian outbacks for 6 straight years (the authors could not have left those data out purpose
And you got to love the sharp cutoff at the great lakes (if you are feeling a bit over-polluted during the day, step one meter into the great lakes for instant fresh air).
Got to say though most images and videos from the people's republic you see even in western media are typically quite clear and clean.
Particulate matter in the air less than 2.5 micrometers is not classified as pollution by them?
I don't fully remember my environmental classes because I'm focusing on electronics for now, but the basic idea I got was that if something is put there by you, and it is not supposed to be there normally, then you should try to take it back out. More importantly, if the stuff you put there is harmful in any way at all, then it is very irresponsible for you to ignore it.
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These 'Canadian' scientist are from: Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA Department of Environmental Health, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, USA Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee, USA Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Fudan University, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China Solid reporting, Slashdotters.
I was in Beijing last fall and the air quality there was horrendous. It seemed 10x as bad as the worst smog I ever saw in Los Angeles. During my visit a huge dust storm blew in with tremendous winds. It was almost strong enough to knock me over at times. The next day the air was as blue as could be. Just beautiful clear skies. Our guide says it was the first time he had seen blue sky in Beijing for many months. Sad . . .
Deserts inside a 1st world country is blue. Deserts inside a 3rd world country is red.
New Economic Perspectives
I was in shanghai with my wife last fall for a month. We came back to the US through LAX and walked between terminals. Both of us agreed that the air was quite fresh in the middle of LA. You can't see any stars in shanghai and the moon is wrapped in some severe haze at night. Pretty scary.
so I question the whole basis of the argument.
I note that the other major high concentrations of 'red' are in the middle of the Sahara and across Siberia. Neither of these places have heavy industry. So whatever the 'red' is measuring, it is NOT solely industrial pollution....
The major issue with all this, is that although China does produce an immense amount of polution, to a certain extent, much of it is to satisfy western consumption.
If the rest of the world wants to criticise China, the first thing they need to do is start restricting the import of products that do not meet local pollution control requirements, or request that the importer pays for some sort of carbon offset/capture.
I have a similar issue with animal husbandry, where the UK has some of the strictest welfare regulations in place, but still allow the import of animal products from other EU countries.
However I can make a consumer choice, when purchasing meat, I have less of a choice when it comes to purchasing plastic etc.
This is not about stopping China from exporting goods, just that the factories these goods come from should be upheld to local pollution quality standards.
Let's face it, the only reason folks buy stuff from China is because the goods are cheap. And that's because it's cheap to produce there. And it's cheap to produce there for two reasons:
1. Cheap labour (Very poorly paid workers, most of whom I suspect simply don't know any different)
2. Virtually no pollution regulations. Factories can belch out pretty much whatever they like, so can use much cheaper production methods than elsewhere.
Take those two things away by, say, introducing workers' unions and pollution laws, and watch the manufacturing dry up. Like what has happened in many first-world countries now. Westerners just don't like to see pollution and underpaid work locally, so outsource it - NIMBY.
Note: I am not saying this situation is good by any means - I avoid buying stuff made in China wherever possible. You should too.
"Nine times out of ten, starting a fire is not the best way to solve the problem." - my wife
And on a side note, how come Slashdot submitters link to a summary, and not the Original NASA source?
Maybe the submitter is a kiwi and is torqued about being left off the map?
Or maybe a Finn. Finland is completely missing from the map. At least there's a fragment of New Zealand's South Island on it (and all of West Island).
Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. - Voltaire
... New Zealand?
You've left most of it off the map.
now, if only nasa data could reveal the industrialized nations' industrial air pollution and vilify it enough, the governments of the world will surely act and put a stop to it.
but, seriously, why does every comment that gets modded up anytime china is involved one that treats the country as though it were the borg? "them," "they," and "the nation," as though there's no diversity of thought, opinion or action amongst over a billion people. i think that outlook's never-ending claims about chinese citizens being brainwashed is itself the stronger example of brainwashing.