Slashdot Mirror
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.
Coal-fired.
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
They didn't admit it. If you follow the links in TFA, you can see that the pollution figures come from measurements taken at the US Embassy in Beijing.
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.
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.
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.
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.
As far as I can tell, he accepts modern pollution controls but does not accept CO2 as a pollutant or extra, arbitrary paperwrk.