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China Smog: Millions Start New Year Shrouded By Health Alerts and Travel Chaos (theguardian.com)
Millions in China rang in the New Year shrouded in a thick blanket of toxic smog, causing road closures and flight cancellations as 24 cities issued alerts that will last through much of the week. From a report on The Guardian: On the first day of 2017 in Beijing, concentrations of tiny particles that penetrate deep into the lungs climbed as high as 24 times levels recommended by the World Health Organization. More than 100 flights were cancelled and all intercity buses were halted at the capital's airport. In the neighbouring port city of Tianjin, more than 300 flights were cancelled while the weather forecast warned thick smog will persist until 5 January. All of the city's highways were also shut as low visibility made driving hazardous, effectively trapping residents.
when I first flew regularly to Beijing, the pollution seems to be of a different nature, but worse. Back then most were heating their homes with bricks of coal. After a day out in town, I would come back to my hotel and blow my nose. The tissue was filled with coal soot! Now the particulates are finer (more hazardous?) and no soot in snot. I feel the effects more sharply now though, but maybe that's just my age...
Have you ever noticed that anybody driving slower than you is an idiot, and anyone going faster than you is a maniac?
We want those awesome jobs manufacturing phones for a dollar an hour at 80 hours a week!
Most iPhones are made in Shenzhen where a typical factor wage is about $3/hr. Since prices are lower in China for most things, that is the purchasing power of $6-$8, or not much less than a fast food worker might make in America. Average hours in Foxconn factories is 45 hours per week. When asked about working conditions, Foxconn employees biggest complaint was that they wanted to work longer hours, to build up their savings faster.
It's a good thing China doesn't have an EPA...
Except they do! it's called the Ministry of Environmental Protection of the People's Republic of China (MEP) and the concerns of the environment come second the economic concerns. A steel plant may be in blatant violation of environmental law but shutting it down until it's in compliance with the law or even slowing down it's output to make the proper repairs/changes is considered to be unacceptable. China actually has decent environmental protections but the problem is that they are not enforced because the Chinese government is being run like a business. In short, China is cranking capitalism up to 11.
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