This new year celebration is once more the occasion to burn tons of fireworks. This week should be a relief for our lungs as most of the factories are shutdown and as people do not have to commute for few days. But no, fireworks are here and create a nice city-wide smoke!
If you can't get the air cleaner, just change the way you measure!
Sunday, 03 February 2008,
Written by Julien
The changes that occurred in the measurement and communication of Beijing air quality goes further than just not providing detailed data (see my previous post).
Beijing environment bureau decided to change a bit the way it measures the pollution: they removed stations downtown and created new ones in the country side. So there are still 27 stations and the average of the measures still gives the overall result for Beijing. However, among the new stations, there is one in Badaling and at Miyun reservoir.
For those not familiar with Beijing, Miyun reservoir is in the mountain, about one hour out of Beijing. As the water is to be drunk by millions of Beijingers, no activity is allowed next to the lake (neither industry nor transportation). For sure, the quality of the air there is among the best in all Beijing province!
Since probably 90% of Beijing (the province-like region) is outside the actual city, they could put 90% of the stations in the countryside, and still claim to have an accurate geographical a... [more]
Shanghai comparator up, Beijing comparator still down...
Thursday, 31 January 2008,
Written by Julien
I took me quite some time to try having Shanghai and Beijing comparators up again.
For Shanghai, it's done, and the comparison is done as before.
For Beijing, it is not so easy. Since January 1st, Beijing Environment Bureau only provides the general index and the main pollutant. It is not sufficient to compare properly with other cities' indexes. Previously, we had the indexes for three pollutants (SO2, NO2 and PM10) with which we could calculate the concentrations. I keep trying to find a solution, but as we get closer to the Olympics, it will be harder to get reliable data...
hi! I just found your blog through Planet BLUG. Do you have any tips on mitigating the risk of living in such a polluted environment? I mean, we can't help but breathe the air. But are t... [more]
annie wrote :
I have emphysema and will be in Beijing and Shanghai in June/July. Anybody know how I can get oxygen in these cities?
Beijing and Shanghai pollution websites have been updated over the new Year holiday. The comparator will be updated soon to adapt to those new versions.
Bonjour
Pourrais-tu donner le lien vers le site de l'indice de pollution de l'air ŕ Pékin STP? Celui que j'avais en anglais ne fonctionne plus depuis plusieurs semaines...
Meilleurs voeu... [more]
Hi Severine, the links on the right side still work. However, on the Beijing site, the index is not clearly given. You have to click on the map and check the first line which means "sta... [more]
A step toward a common air pollution index in Europe!
Friday, 21 December 2007,
Written by Julien
I just discovered this website: www.airqualitynow.eu. It is an European webportal to compare air quality across borders.
I think that's a very good news for citizens' awareness about outdoor pollution. Right now, each country (and sometime each city) has its own index, making it really hard for normal people to understand and compare.
26 cities are already participating to this initiative. I hope more and more cities will join it, so Europe could have a well understood Common Air Quality Index!
I created the comparator on this website, so people could translate Chinese pollution in their national standard. I will soon add this CAQI in the comparator...
Hello !
Alors, on prend les paris... On en est ŕ une semaine de la fin de l'année, alors est-ce que la municipalité de Pékin va tenir sa promesse de 245 jours de "ciel bleu" en 20... [more]
Pollution in China seen by NYT
Monday, 17 December 2007,
Written by Julien
The New York Times is free since few months only and that's definitely good news (you only need a free registration). They are currently publishing a really interesting series of articles about pollution in China.
It is actually part of a complete series called "Chocking on growth", which already has 8 long articles plus videos, dealing with subjects like water, air, Three Gorges dam...
The last article is about food, In China, Farming Fish in Toxic Waters. Read it and you will think twice before eating fish in China again! Picture: Chang W. Lee/The New York Times
Geoengineering, or how not to reduce CO2 emissions!
Saturday, 15 December 2007,
Written by Julien
World leaders are gathering in Bali, trying to agree on how to reduce CO2 emissions and how to limit climate change. Even if the talks result in an agreement setting a cap on emissions by 2020, the reduction of C02 in the atmosphere is a long term issue.
Other options are being developed to prevent climate change much quickly, by engineering the planet. Those geoengineers have many ideas such as injecting CO2 into oceans, storing CO2 in empty gas reservoirs, shielding the planet from the sun...
The more the planet heats, the less those options will seem surrealistic. The following video explains how to create sulfur clouds above the poles to reduce global warming, and explains how this could be integrated in an overall plan against climate change:
China already uses missiles to concentrate rains on Beijing. I guess they could easily propose their skills to reduce the impact of their emissions and to keep focusing on economical growth.
Picture: Chang W. Lee/The New York Times
