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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."
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?
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.
the presence of heavy particulate pollution is highly correlated with desert areas
Somewhat, yes, but the North and South American deserts don't seem to have the same issue. Unfortunately data for Western and Southern Australia isn't provided, so we can't use that for comparison.
-- Let us endeavor so to live that when we pass even the undertaker shall be sorry. -- M. Twain
Another interpretation is that China is a bastion of freedom for free enterprise. Isn't this what people want, for Big Government to stay out of the way and not hamper job creation, and not force people to do stuff like using catalytic converters and CFL lightbulbs? When people use those words, we must be cognizant of what they are advocating (if unwittingly).
I think that might be the point the poster is making.
-- I ignore anonymous replies to my comments and postings.
I live in Korea, and here we call it China's yellow wind. On the days when the wind blows from the west, there is an obvious yellow tint to the sky. There are also similar reports from Eastern European countries too. The funny thing with environmental disasters is that they usually do not stay localised to the country that causes them. So what China do to themselves will eventually affect us all.
If this is an argument against completely unregulated actions without any personal consequence, that's fine, but there are plenty of pro-capitalism people who realize that the environment is a shared resource and that no entity should be free to crap all over it. I feel as though you're setting up strawman argument so you can completely dismiss an entire economic model.
There's freedom to do whatever you want without consequences, and there's freedom to do whatever you want so long as you don't step on the freedom of another. There are a lot of us who fall into the later camp and I feel as though comments like this only end up antagonizing myself and people who share my beliefs. I think we both care about the environment so why can't we work together in this regard, even if we may share widely differing opinions in others?
Well, that sounds good to me. If the shoe of criticism fits, wear it. But if not, don't.
maybe the problem isnt as bad as the original poster says, but your defense is damning on its own. Bragging that the blue sky has been visible most of the last 28 days also says that there are days that you cant see the sky, and that the previous summer the sky has been blocked for most days. I dont think you should be so violent in your defense of splitting hairs.
I live in a city known for traffic and the pollution it creates, and I see blue skies on every day that it doesnt rain all day long.