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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.
it's actually worse.
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. 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.
im getting way to drunk playing the slashdot summary fuck up drinking game
have you seen my sig? there are many others like it but none that are the same
Coal-fired.
If a company consistently and for a long term offers a product at or below cost, it's reasonable to assume this behavior is anticompetitive- it is trying to drive out the competition. If this long term underselling is a result of better sourcing, optimal production, superior management, better labor, etc., then it would be turning a profit. If China, instead, is destroying its environment, holding its people in bondage, and generally working hard to deconstruct the industrial capabilities of its neighbors by underselling them while damaging itself, it is reasonable to assume that there's an anticompetitive goal. If the true manufacturing cost of a 300 dollar item is 200 dollars, and the population is effectively being exploited to make up the difference, then the market is not actually happening. Your phone will go up in cost no matter what, because the true prices aren't being charged at the moment. But instead of paying to enslave foreigners, maybe you'll be paying a real wage to the people down the street.
Sounds like a really great market for vehicles that don't have internal combustion engines, unless the electricity is generated by burning coal.
Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.
Ernest Hemingway
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?
It's a good thing China doesn't have an EPA, think of how much worse the situation would be in there was a government agency meddling in the lives of the Chinese people.
[/political sarcasm]
"Grab them by the pussy" -- President of the United States of America
Cuba ($9) per month min wage needs work and with some push maybe an tunnel can be build We can get the 1099 truckers to pay the toll.
That nasty EPA has us all breathing clean air. Bastards! We could be more like China. Bring back the smog and acid rain!
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.
You do realize the EPA, in conjunction with the clean air act, are "big government"?
But Trump is anti-regulatory and so he wants to get rid of AQCS. Or is it your view that he is actually an environmentalist in disguise?
Coal-fired.
On a per-capita basis, America burns more coal than China.
America gets about 39% of its electricity from coal, while China gets about 75% from coal. But Americans use more than twice as much electricity per-capita.
What is the 'real' cost? This is especially hard if you try to include external costs (air, water and other resources on a sustainable level). You can easily argue that nobody prices things at a cost that would reflect good stewardship of society and the planet on a multi decade scale. China is just being a bit more aggressive than other countries.
Although the US never got quite this bad, there were many environmental disasters in this country prior to the creation of the EPA (by Nixon). Things are quite a bit better now and lo and behold, the rich people are still making lots of money.
Remember that all you Rabid Randians and Triumphant Trumpers.
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
Irrelevant, the planet doesn't care about per-capita. China produces 3.5 times the carbon emissions of the USA. That's the only stat that matters.
not possible, only 16% of our energy comes from coal and the number can't be lifted much in the a two term presidency
Exactly! Remember L.A. back in the 70s before California said enough is enough and required cleaner cars? And how, thanks to them and Tricky Dicky we all breath better? Nixon also signed the Clean Water Act too, if I recall.
Oh, and that whole opening up China thing.
Fuck, I never thought I'd be nostalgic for him.
-- I have a private email server in my basement.
You are really grasping at straws here with a clear anti-government agenda. What if I show you countries with more socialist policies and government spending (proportional to population) with cleaner air than ours? Will that change your mind? I didn't think so. You have already have a lens that you see the world through, and it's basically the "minimal government is best" lens. You aren't looking for solutions to air pollution deaths. You're just peddling your pre-conceived opinions to the gullible, wrapping them in the current issue of the minute, poorly, at that. I'm open to less government/efficiency in government, when it makes clear financial and societal sense, not when it is a mindless mantra used as a cover for disinformation.
China produces 3.5 times the carbon emissions of the USA. That's the only stat that matters.
No, that stat doesn't matter at all. Political boundaries don't matter to CO2. If China split up so that each province was independent, would you consider carbon emissions "solved" because each is emitting less that the previous union?
The U.S. continues to outsource its pollution to China.
We are so pious in thinking we're "green" when we enable China to pollute so much.
Tell me.
What causes China to produce so much pollution?
Answer: The U.S. desire for cheap labor.
If we bring those jobs back to the U.S., the products will be produced with less pollution (and higher cost) because the U.S. has more-stringent pollution standards.
Is that what the voters in West Virginia, Kentucky, Pennsylvania and Ohio thought?
Political boundaries DO matter to someone trying to implement policies to reduce emissions.
This. I remember working in China for a few months. $1AU ($0.75US) got me a full dinner, a hearty freshly made noodle soup with loads of beef. I drove a taxi absolutely everywhere as $2 got me pretty much anywhere in the city. Even when I went to amusement parks 100km away I took taxis.
Pay rate is worthless without taking into account the cost of living.
Presumably the embassy is located in a nicer area of town, a little greener, a little less crowded, a little further from the worst air pollution sources.
Any Sinophiles here to comment on our Peking real estate?
Rich people and big companies are often highly favored by oppressive regulations and corrupt crony politicians.
As far as I can tell, he accepts modern pollution controls but does not accept CO2 as a pollutant or extra, arbitrary paperwrk.
Actually pollution was controlled through lawsuits and discovery before Nixon. Nixon pre-empted massive court resolutions to prevent overnight sea changes requiring immediate cleanup and huge damage awards as private monitoring means and public understanding outed criminal polluters.
What causes China to produce so much pollution?
Answer: The U.S. desire for cheap labor.
WRONG - It takes a supply and demand to make a market. China's willingness to supply cheap labor and low cost manufacturing by dispensing with many pollution controls we would require here in the US, is as much what causes China to produce so much pollution as our demand for products.
The Chinese, at least the illegitimate PRC (the ROC is the legitimate government of China IMHO) isn't stupid. They know exactly what they are doing and the consequences of their actions.
Repeal the 17th Amendment TODAY! Also Please Read http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html
Funny you use an example of a steel plant as that is exactly what Beijing did getting ready for the 2008 Olympics, they moved a steel plant to help clean up the air.
What's funny about that? They wanted to have the Olympics, so they made it happen.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
are long term. The air pollution coupled with the cigarette smoking will mean that many middle aged and senior Chinese will not have a healthy long life.
thinking and reality are often two different things
"clean coal" can't compete with natural gas. There are some useful things that could be done with coal that are cleaner than petroleum but gas beats those too