Is Beijing China pollution really this bad?

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dukebound85's Avatar
yes
mobilehaathi's Avatar
My god the second video's person was insufferable.
Yes it's really that bad, so bad in fact that sometimes you can test the air on the west coast of the US and trace back some of those particulates all the way back to China. It used to be that bad here in the US and EU just within the last hundred years but we wised up and created laws regarding pollution. China is in the midst of working out new pollution laws. It's a step but they are finally realizing just how bad it is for them. Then again you realize it's bad when you have to ban people from driving and working to cut down on smog for a few days when world leaders are present.
Holy ****!

That is just insane there is like a 25 foot area of visibility.
Happybunny's Avatar
China is learning the lesson of all quickly developing industrial countries.

Japan in the 1950-1960 it was about the same.

Current Japanese environmental policy and regulations were the consequence of a number of environmental disasters in 1950s and 1960s. Cadmium poisoning from industrial waste in Toyama Prefecture was discovered to be the cause of the extremely painful itai-itai disease (イタイイタイ病 Itai itai byō?, lit. "ouch ouch sickness"). People in Minamata City in Kumamoto Prefecture were poisoned by methylmercury drained from the chemical factory, known as the Minamata disease. The number of casualties in Minamata is 6,500 as of November 2006.

In Yokkaichi, a port in Mie Prefecture, air pollution caused by sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide emissions led to a rapid increase in the number of people suffering from asthma and bronchitis. In urban areas photochemical smog from automotive and industrial exhaust fumes also contributed to a rise in respiratory problems. In the early 1970s, chronic arsenic poisoning attributed to dust from arsenic mines occurred in Shimane and Miyazaki prefectures.

Consumers Union of Japan was founded in 1969 to deal with health problems and false claims by companies, as Japan's rampant industrial development was seen as causing problems for consumers and citizens. In the 1970s, Consumers Union of Japan led the opposition to nuclear power, calling for a nation-wide Anti-Nuclear Power Week Campaign.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enviro...ssues_in_Japan
Eraserhead's Avatar
There certainly isn't much blue sky in Chinese cities.
sviato's Avatar
Dehli is much worse apparently.
Huntn's Avatar
  • Huntn
  • #9 Yesterday, 10:03 AM
For economic influence, China will have a day of reckoning and a huge health bill, that is if they pay for health programs over there. :-/
Eraserhead's Avatar
For economic influence, China will have a day of reckoning and a huge health bill, that is if they pay for health programs over there. :-/ Originally Posted by Huntn
It was worse here in the 1950s.
obeygiant's Avatar
For economic influence, China will have a day of reckoning and a huge health bill, that is if they pay for health programs over there. :-/ Originally Posted by Huntn
Lets export Obamacare to China!!!!
satcomer's Avatar
I am starting to wonder if China has catalytic converters installed on their vehicles? Plus don't they have filters on their coal factories? No wonder they ship all their solar panels all over the world.

Last edited by satcomer; Today at 10:22 AM.
It was worse here in the 1950s. Originally Posted by Eraserhead
No, it wasn't.

The US never had the population density, or the meteorological conditions that modern-day China does. The US (fortunately) woke up to the looming ecological disaster in the 1960s, and made the necessary changes to slow, and in some cases, reverse the damage we were doing to our environment.
satcomer's Avatar
No, it wasn't.

The US never had the population density, or the meteorological conditions that modern-day China does. The US (fortunately) woke up to the looming ecological disaster in the 1960s, and made the necessary changes to slow, and in some cases, reverse the damage we were doing to our environment. Originally Posted by vrDrew
Started by the Nixon Administion.
obeygiant's Avatar
No, it wasn't.

The US never had the population density, or the meteorological conditions that modern-day China does. The US (fortunately) woke up to the looming ecological disaster in the 1960s, and made the necessary changes to slow, and in some cases, reverse the damage we were doing to our environment. Originally Posted by vrDrew
He may be talking about The Great Smog of 1952 in England.
heehee's Avatar
Yes.

I have a few friends living in Hong Kong and coming for a visit here in Canada, they grew up here. The first thing they said was "wow, blue sky". They hardly have blue sky in Hong Kong because of the pollution coming from China.
Menel's Avatar
Yes.
My Cousin is in Shanghai teaching English. Pictures are horrible. She got a 2 week reprieve to come back home to Chattanooga and the biggest things she noted was how much she missed blue skies overhead.
Huntn's Avatar
No, it wasn't.

The US never had the population density, or the meteorological conditions that modern-day China does. The US (fortunately) woke up to the looming ecological disaster in the 1960s, and made the necessary changes to slow, and in some cases, reverse the damage we were doing to our environment. Originally Posted by vrDrew
It can be argued that half the country has fallen back asleep or have come to judge that profits > collective health.
Eraserhead's Avatar
He may be talking about The Great Smog of 1952 in England. Originally Posted by obeygiant
Correct.
Ive not been to beijing, but in some of ther industrialised cities I have been to in china it is that bad......
Solomani's Avatar
For economic influence, China will have a day of reckoning and a huge health bill, that is if they pay for health programs over there. :-/ Originally Posted by Huntn
They will pay with their lives. Since their total population is well over 1 billion…. don't be surprised if in the next decade or so, they start dying of lung cancer (and related health issues) by the millions.

Not really trying to single out China, since Europe had experienced the same thing…. with the advent of the Industrial Revolution of the mid 19th century (and onwards).

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My god the second video's person was insufferable. Originally Posted by mobilehaathi
I thought he was quite entertaining. Like a B-rated Bond movie villain.