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Please give me your comments!
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Saturday, 26 May 2007,
Written by Julien
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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.
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Pollution makes cancer the top killer
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Thursday, 24 May 2007,
Written by Julien
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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.
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Sacrificing a generation!
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Wednesday, 23 May 2007,
Written by Julien
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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 ...
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Monday, 21 May 2007,
Written by Julien
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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.
Terrifying!
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Friday, 18 May 2007,
Written by Julien
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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!
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Wednesday, 16 May 2007,
Written by Julien
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I want to present today another WHO resource, some very interesting maps of environmental hazards and consequences.
One of them concerns deaths from urban air pollution. There is no surprise here, and China is far ahead, with 200 to 230 deaths per million.
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1.5 million deaths from respiratory infections attributable to the environment
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Monday, 14 May 2007,
Written by Julien
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WHO website is really an extraordinary source for relevant information on health. I found recently a stunning global study on the environmental burden of disease.
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!
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Coincidence and nice weather?
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Monday, 07 May 2007,
Written by Julien
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Anyone who stayed in Beijing last week could enjoy a great weather, sun, blue sky, ... Today, the sky is grey again. Many people ask me: it is so coincidental, is it natural or are there some manipulations by the government?
Actually, it is not so coincidental. When we think about it, it is even quite logical:
- the sky is grey because of the smog, coming directly from the pollution,
- the main origin of the pollution is human activity, including industries, construction, cars...
- when most of the people are on holiday, like last week, human activity is drastically reduced, the pollution is much lower and no smog hides the blue sky.
This morning, activity started again and the smog is also back to work...
However, the Weather Control Bureau still uses its tools to clear the sky when need be. For example, the rain on April 30th, the night just before May 1st military parade, seems quite suspicious.
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Tuesday, 01 May 2007,
Written by Julien
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Yesterday, I said that electric bicycle is one of the best option in town, a main drawback being the generation of the power!
And then I found that one:
Great, isn't it? I would love to ride one like this! And you?
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What is the best transportation mean to go around in town?
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Monday, 30 April 2007,
Written by Julien
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In cities, most of the time we spend outside buildings is during transportation, from home to work, from work to home, from home to the gym, from home to bars, etc. And the place where the exposure to outdoor pollution is the highest is ..... (surprise) .... outside buildings!
So, if we can reduce our exposure during transportation, we could easily reduce the impact of outdoor pollution on our health.
For me, the main factors to determine the best transportation mean are:
- time of transportation (the shorter the better)
- exposure (the less pollutants the better)
- effort (less efforts=less air used and no deep breathing)
- pollution generated by the transportation mean
Base on this, the best transportation means are electric bicycle and normal bicycle ridden slowly.
- Electric bicycle: that's the best, you are quick, without efforts, quite high compared to the traffic and you don't generate pollution on site. It is not perfect though, as coal is burnt to produce power and the recycling of the battery is a complex issue.
- Bicycle: quite good, because you are not stuck in traffic jams, are higher than the traffic and do not generate pollution. But efforts are not so good for your lungs, so I recommend to ride slowly (did you ever wonder why Chinese people are so slow on bikes?).
- Bus: advisable for long distances, it is OK with modern low emissions buses, especially if they can use dedicated lanes. On the contrary, you generate pollution but still stay longer in a polluted environment.
- Cars: that's the worst, all the air you breath comes directly from the exhaust pipes of the other cars (did you realized that air intake is just at the level of the exhaust pipes?). Traffic jams are frequents and you spend a lot of time stopped, breathing and generating pollution.
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