Air pollution sky-rocketed to 40 times the international safety standard in Beijing, China in October, reports the New York Times, and visibility has been reduced to incredible lows as the city enters its most vulnerable smog season. Local Chinese media reports visibility has been as low as 50 yards across Northern China.
The high-smog season occurs mostly due to adverse weather conditions, but according to the Associated Press, China’s recent increases in coal burning for heating have also contributed to the adverse amounts of air pollution. The Website PolicyMic says the smog in China has also been blamed for the diagnosis of an 8-year-old girl with lung cancer. “She is the youngest person ever in China to be diagnosed with that disease,” it says. Reportedly the girl lived next to a busy road and often inhaled dirty air.
“Currently, China is leading the world in cancer, claiming 20 percent of the world's cases. Lung cancer is by far the most prevalent. It gets even worse. The vast majority of deaths attributed to world air pollution are in China,” the website article says.
Primary and middle schools and even some highways were shut down, according to reports by local authorities in Northern China. Multiple flights arriving to and leaving multiple Chinese cities have additionally been postponed or canceled.
Beijing has begun to shut down factories, in addition to government-funded public services, and further limit traffic to prevent further increases in air pollution levels. The Associated Press reports vehicle emissions are being blamed for roughly a quarter of the pollution, with coal-run factories and production being blamed for the rest. The Associated Press reports the worst smog is present in the major cities of China.
Additionally, AP informs the public about China’s past governmental indifference to environmental policies, which have recently been revamped in small amounts to promote anti-pollution initiatives. CNN reports in September, “the central government in China announced plans to start listing its top ten most air-polluted cities every month in the hope that national humiliation will push positive environmental action.
In October, China's Vice Premier Zhang Gao Li said in a statement as he announced the new policy at the 18th Air Pollution Control Conference in Beijing, “We must put air quality control as an ecological red line for economic management and social development," CNN says “Chinese officials did not say when the first list would be announced, but the northern megacities of Beijing and Tianjin, as well as the surrounding provinces of Hebei, Shanxi, Inner Mongolia and Shandong, have signed onto an official plan to speed up air pollution control measures.
”An additional attempt at improving the air quality comes from Dutch artist Daan Roosegaarde. In an interview with CNN, Roosegaarde described his invention as being like “a balloon which has static (electricity) and your hair goes toward it. Same with the smog.”
The device will use copper coils to generate electromagnetic fields that pull the airborne particles to the ground, where they can be cleaned. According to CNN, his studio has reached an agreement with the Beijing government to test the technology in one of the capital city’s parks.