Simple way to fight indoor air pollution in developing countries
Monday, 18 June 2007,
Written by Julien
Indoor air pollution is a threat on people health. It is a threat for urbanized people, that spend 80% of their lives inside buildings with many chemicals pouring out from the walls and furnitures. It is an even more dangerous threat for children and women living in the country side, breathing the pollution produced by cooking stoves.
This video is really encouraging, showing that 1 million lives a year could be saved, using simple, easy to transfer, ways of preparing cooking fuel.
TED is a conference happening every year in Monterey, California, bringing together thinkers and doers.
why don't you just end it right now and save us your grumbling and consumption of resources, Disappointed?
Thermal inversion and pollution
Wednesday, 13 June 2007,
Written by Julien
The last few days were really bad in Beijing, with grey sky and heavy smog. It is mainly due to thermal inversion.
You might have heard of convection. This is a natural phenomena that creates circulation in fluids from temperature differences. It is convection that creates bubbling when heating water. It happens because cold water is heavier than warm water.
Normally speaking, the same thing happens in the atmosphere, and the air heated by the ground tends to be replaced by fresh air from above. That is great to clean polluted air.
However, in some cases, air in altitude is warmer than air on the ground, so the convection cannot occur. Air stays and pollution accumulates! That's what happened those last days.
Today, the wind is back, so pollution has been taken away, air is fresher and the smog is partly gone!
I confess, I don't read your blog everyday. And I really don't know why because each time I read it, I learn something useful and I feel less ignorant! Thank you for lightning my smoky brain... [more]
Radio reportage on air pollution in Beijing
Saturday, 02 June 2007,
Written by Julien
Thank you for your comments!
As I am read by many French people, I invite you to listen to the very good reportage on RFI (Radio France International) about air pollution in Beijing. It gives a quick and balance overview if the situation. click on "écouter" to listen.
Bonjour,
Merci pour ce blog. C'est "super" d'avoir une comparaison avec Paris. En arrivant en chine en 2005, je me suis posé la même question, cad quel serait l'indice de pollutio... [more]
@ Andeol >> Thank you for your comment, and your question regarding the comparison to Paris indexes.
As I explained in one of my post (accessible when clicking on "Understand&quo... [more]
Please give me your comments!
Saturday, 26 May 2007,
Written by Julien
All the information I am showing on this blog are things I know for a while. However, writing it everyday here makes me feel a bit sick, a bit depressed.
Pollution is a real problem, and all the facts are concordant. But those are not remote facts, it has a real impact on health, on yours but also on mine. Escaping the issue is not a solution, but knowing the problem and not doing anything is not a solution neither.
I would like to get your feeling on the pollution, this pollution that affect us, our friends and our children.
Et oui, il me tarde de quitter Pékin avec cet air si pourri qui surcharge nos bronches et celles de mon bébé. Avant de connaître ton blog, j'avais moi aussi fait le caclul que Paris et Péki... [more]
Adrien wrote :
Air pollution in Beijing is really an experience : I couldn't imagine how bad it could get before living here. It's the MAIN problem of this otherwise fascinating city. And it's not just abo... [more]
Je viens juste de découvrir ce blog via Mike. Je trouve cela très intéressant. :)
J'habite dans le Jiangsu, là où à priori il y a les plus fort taux de cancer dus à la pollution... :/
Tous les jours je regarde le site SEPA pour connaitre le taux de pollution des principales villes. Quelque soit le resultat, je peux rien n'y faire, mais je ne peux pas m'empecher de regarde... [more]
I've just discovered this blog and find the information valuable. Last week, after several day in the smog I saw how they "minimized" the pollution indice (Good in Beijing = Very B... [more]
Pollution makes cancer the top killer
Thursday, 24 May 2007,
Written by Julien
This title is not the warning from an international association regarding China, it is the official statement of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, released today in China Daily.
What I am explaining on this blog for months now is also publicly stated by Chinese Government. Here is just an extract of the article: "Air pollution is a major cause of lung cancers, as harmful granules enter the lungs and cannot be discharged. Large amounts of formaldehyde and its compounds used in house renovations and furniture has been blamed for deterioration in air quality."
Unfortunately, the only data published is that cancer is the highest cause of death. So we do not know in detail how many deaths are caused by cancer only, and on this amount, how many are caused by pollution.
This week-end I had a quite interesting discussion with a Chinese, in his twenty's, speaking fluently French and considering himself as a world citizen. We ended talking about pollution and development, and I think the prejudices of this educated and open minded Chinese can help understand the present situation in China.
Here below is the script of this discussion, italic parts are my answers.
China is now doing business, earning money, and has no time for environment. Working for environment can also be very profitable. So many Western companies are running good business, protecting the environment.
China is developing very fast, and nothing can be done. That is not totally true and Chinese government is actually trying to change things. For example, destroying inefficient power plants, increasing emissions standards for cars...
And what will be the cost of all those children with asthma, of all the cancers, of all the droughts...If we want to get China developed, we have to sacrifice a generation!
Isn't it possible to educate people so the impact on environment get reduced? There are too many Chinese, China is a too big country!
I am sure you already heard the "There are too many Chinese" before, it is the typical answer to explain problems in China. But for pollution the behavior of each one has a big impact: take subway, switch of the lights ...
J'ai toujours été étonnée par mon mari et mes ami(e)s chinois(e)s par leur non respect de l'eau ou électicité.
Ex: laisser la lumière éclairée, laisser couler l'eau du robinet et aller ouvr... [more]
Edouard wrote :
Ca fait combien de générations sacrifiées à une cause foireuse en Chine ?
Poor children!
Monday, 21 May 2007,
Written by Julien
I am spending a lot of time on WHO websites those days, and I found other frightening/interesting data: reasons why children are more exposed than adults.
The main reasons are:
Children are constantly growing. They breathe more air, consume more food, and drink more water than adults do, in proportion to their weight.
Children's central nervous, immune, reproductive, and digestive systems are still developing. At certain early stages of development, exposure to environmental toxicants can lead to irreversible damage.
Children behave differently from adults and have different patterns of exposure. Young children crawl on the ground where they can be exposed to dust and chemicals that accumulate on floors and soils.
Children have little control over their environment. Unlike adults, they may be both unaware of risks and unable to make choices to protect their health.
I guess the takeaway is : don't have children! ;-)
An improving situation
Friday, 18 May 2007,
Written by Julien
After the quite frightening map of the last article, here come a good news. Thank's to Mike's comment I discovered this interesting chart from International Herald Tribune.
On the part shown below, it is obvious that the level of particles in Beijing is decreasing over the time.
However, it is also obvious that the level is still much higher than WHO guidelines!
Not really. The difference is that urbanization rate in southern Africa is much lower than in other areas. So not so many people are exposed to urban air pollution!
1.5 million deaths from respiratory infections attributable to the environment
The main findings of this study are incredible, a quarter of all deaths come from environment:
24% of the global disease burden can be attributed to environmental factors,
23% of all deaths can be attributed to environmental factors.
The study also highlights that more than 1.5 million deaths annually from respiratory infections are attributable to the environment. This means almost 3% of annual deaths! It is huge, even if figure does not include other diseases, such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and cardiovascular problems due to pollution
Other interesting data, the part of environmental burden in deaths is 60% higher in China (together with other small Asian countries) than in Western Europe!
Frightening, isn't it!
