Traveling to Beijing? Better read this first

[Gaybutton]

Beijing issues first-ever smog 'red alert'

by Kyodo News

8 Dec 2015

BEIJING - City authorities on Monday issued for the first time a red alert for air pollution, the highest of four danger levels, requiring schools to close and at least half of vehicles to be pulled off the roads.

The local government warned that extremely hazardous levels of pollutants in the Chinese capital will likely continue through Thursday.

China has pledged to step up efforts to mitigate its notorious air pollution, such as by reducing the density of PM2.5, harmful particles that are smaller than 2.5 microns in diameter. But progress has been slow.

Very thick smog blanketed Beijing also last week, with the levels of PM2.5 particles in the air reaching as high as around 650 micrograms per cubic meter, while Chinese President Xi Jinping and other world leaders were attending the ongoing U.N. climate talks in Paris.

The World Health Organisation considers the safe limit of PM2.5 particles to be 25 micrograms per cubic meter on a daily average.

Beijing introduced the four-tier alert system in October 2013. The red alert is to be issued when severe smog is expected to last more than 72 hours.

But local authorities last week kept an orange alert, the second-highest warning, although doomsday-like scenes continued for several days, and they have faced criticism from ordinary citizens for that decision.

Under the red warning, steps to be taken from Tuesday morning include banning cars with odd and even number plates from driving on alternate days.

The authorities have blamed a lack of wind and other "unfavourable" weather conditions for the recent smog. Heavy traffic and industrial production still relying heavily on coal are known to be some of its major causes.

Chinese experts say that the country is unlikely to meet its national standard for PM2.5, which is set at 75 microgrammes per cubic metre, in Beijing and its surrounding areas by 2030.

Story and photo: http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/asia/78 ... -red-alert

[jason105]

Last year I had a layover in Beijing and the weather and air were great. Climbing the Great Wall was challenging but that was more because of me being out of shape than bad air!
Hopefully this episode will serve to convince the government that the current policies are unsustainable.
Just because the bad air starts out in China doesn't mean that it ends up there.
We all have some "skin' in this game.