US Embassy Categorizes Beijing Air Quality As 'Crazy Bad'

digitaldc writes "Pollution in Beijing was so bad Friday the US embassy, which has been independently monitoring air quality, ran out of conventional adjectives to describe it, at one point saying it was 'crazy bad.' The embassy later deleted the phrase, saying it was an 'incorrect' description and it would revise the language to use when the air quality index goes above 500, its highest point and a level considered hazardous for all people by US standards. The hazardous haze has forced schools to stop outdoor exercises, and health experts asked residents, especially those with respiratory problems, the elderly and children, to stay indoors."

Comments

Re:A Prime Example of Externalized Costs.

[mehrotra.akash]

p.s. why is the comment entry window so narrow? More breakage - Slashdot was more usable in 1998 than it is now, but hey I guess this is progress... bah!

thats because its in idle view
change the url from idle.slashdot.org/...
to
ile.slashdot.org/...
and it will be fine?(u cn put anything instead of ile)

You're off by orders of magnitude

[Cyberblah]

When I visited Beijing during the summer six years ago, the Imperial Vault and the Hall of Prayers at the Temple of Heaven weren't visible from each other. According to this site, they're only about 360 meters apart. Smog limited the visibility at ground level to less than a quarter of a mile, and it has gotten worse since then.

Re:Atlanta

[timeOday]

Last year the Air Quality Index in Atlanta reached the level of "Unhealthy For Sensitive Groups" (100-150) on 16 days, and never reached the next level, "Unhealthy" (150-200). Beijing's score - over 500 - sounds very bad indeed.

Re:Yet if the lasse fair economics crowd would say

[SatanicPuppy]

You both understand that the Clean Air/Clean Water Act made it possible for common citizens to sue over pollution, right? Citation

I assume that you also realize, that, before the act, you couldn't, right?

Re:When will China have their 60's?

[YesIAmAScript]

Basic freedoms have improved, corruption has been far less than I've seen in the US (their former food and drug regulator was found to be taking bribes from pharmaceutical companies, and subsequently executed), and the choking pollution has only been a recent occurrence because of the rapid growth.

You're insane. Corruption in China is rife. The reason there are pollution problems is because the companies don't adhere to the law and instead bribe their way out. This goes to safety issues too. Yes, there are laws to prevent unsafe conditions like buildings flopping over or towering infernos but they cannot be enforced either. And it goes all the way to the bottom, to worker safety, even work hours. Look at the problems in factories. There are laws to prevent sweatshop conditions, but they aren't enforced because the factory owners can work outside the law if they have the right connections.

China wants to clean up the problems but as long as the government cannot enforce the laws because of corruption at lower levels, the problems will still be around.

See China Blue.

http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/chinablue/

The working conditions are tragic and even illegal. But since the owner of the factory is an ex-police chief, there is no action taken against him.

I have no idea how you can say there is less corruption in China than in the US. Just ask Lee Kuan Yew (creator of modern Singapore), he says that the American system cannot be used the same in developing Asian countries because the conditions are different and corruption becomes a problem.