Chinese media condemns government over Beijing pollution - Polidicks

[img]http://imgkk.com/i/0jaq.jpg[/img] [url]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-21007893[/url] [quote=BBC News][B]Chinese media have reacted strongly to dangerous levels of pollution recorded in many northern cities in recent days.[/B] In the capital, Beijing, at the weekend, air pollution soared past levels considered hazardous by the World Health Organization. The official People's Daily said the smog was a "suffocating siege" which had to be urgently addressed. The state-run China Daily said the country had to learn to balance development with quality of life. Meanwhile, the tabloid Global Times said China was risking serious long-term environmental damage. Smog also dominated social media sites. Over the week, a dense smog had been gathering over Beijing and some 30 other cities in northern and eastern China, with visibility down to 100m in some places. Official Beijing city readings on Saturday suggested pollution levels of over 400. An unofficial reading from a monitor at the US embassy recorded levels of over 800. WHO guidelines say average concentrations of the tiniest pollution particles - called PM2.5 - should be no more than 25 microgrammes per cubic metre. Air is unhealthy above 100 microgrammes and at 300, all children and elderly people should remain indoors. Once inhaled, the tiny particles can make people more vulnerable to respiratory infections, as well as leading to increased mortality from lung cancer and heart disease. The Xinhua state news agency said there had been a sharp rise in people seeking treatment at the hospitals in the capital for respiratory problems. The mother of one eight-month-old baby told the BBC her child had suffered from lung problems for months and that they recently worsened after an outing. Ms Li said she had resorted to keeping a basin of water in the house in the hope it might act as an air purifier. "It would be helpful if the city has less cars and the city could [place] curbs on car emissions," Ms Li said. [B]'Poor planning'[/B] On Monday, Beijing authorities said levels had dropped to around 350, but school children were being kept indoors and media reports were warning the public to do the same and to avoid strenuous activity. The build up of pollution has been put down to a lack of wind and a cold spell, rather than a surge in production of pollutants. But [url=http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/opinion/2013-01/14/content_16111178.htm]an editorial in the China Daily[/url] said there was no reason "for us to not reflect on what we've contributed to the smoggy days". It blamed the pollution on poor urban planning and a rapid increase in car ownership, saying residents had to cut down their use of private cars. "In the middle of a rapid urbanisation process, it is urgent for China to think about how such a process can press forward without compromising the quality of urban life with an increasingly worse living environment," said the editorial. "The air quality in big cities could have been better had more attention been paid to the density of the high rises, had more trees been planted in proportion to the number of residential areas, and had the number of cars been strictly controlled. These are the lessons China should learn for its further urbanization." The People's Daily, the official mouthpiece of the ruling Communist Party, ran a front page editorial demanding: "Let us clearly view managing environmental pollution with a sense of urgency." [url=http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/755570.shtml]The tabloid Global Times[/url] said measures taken so far to address pollution in China, which it called the "biggest construction site in the world", had failed to alleviate the problem. It accused the government of dealing with environmental problems in too low-key a way, and called on it to "publish truthful environmental data to the public" to allowed them to help solve the problem. "The public should understand the importance of development as well as the critical need to safeguard the bottom line of the environmental pollution," it said. Social media was also dominated by comments on the pollution, with users of the Twitter-like Weibo site saying the government should do more to prevent pollution affecting their lives.[/quote]

"Chinese media condemns government" Does not compute

[QUOTE=carcarcargo;39216353]"Chinese media condemns government" Does not compute[/QUOTE] And here I used think that Chinese media= Chinese Government v:v:v

Even the state media are in on it. They really are getting very cheeky these days

crackdowns incoming

[QUOTE=ewitwins;39216364]And here I used think that Chinese media= Chinese Government v:v:v[/QUOTE] Don't worry, it's just a rogue station. They'll all be executed and replaced in the next few days.

[QUOTE=ewitwins;39216364]And here I used think that Chinese media= Chinese Government v:v:v[/QUOTE] it's something called intra-party politics

How dare they say that!

I can't imagine things going well if their own media is beginning to turn against them.

This is simple enough to fix. Here's some simple steps that worked great for us in the 70's. 1: Ban 2-cycle engines from commuter vehicles. Two strokes are excellent sport engines and they're great in small yard tools, but they pollute far too much to be used for basic transport and it's nearly impossible to clean their act up. So ensure only vehicles with 4-cycle engines can be operated on public highways. 2: Catalytic converters. These will do double duty...firstly they'll clean up what's coming out the back in the first place. Secondly, with how heavily smogged up the joint is, they'll clean the air the engine sucked in as well. They're pretty handy little exhaust filters, and modern catalysts sap so little power from the engine that you can't even spot the difference on the dyno. 3: Get better quality gas on the market. shit gas pollutes, and I don't imagine China has the best quality fuel in the world.

Capitalist pig dog journos, I suspect many of them and their families will be getting first class tickets to the gulag any day now. Long live China! [editline]14th January 2013[/editline] [QUOTE=TestECull;39217998]This is simple enough to fix. Here's some simple steps that worked great for us in the 70's. 1: Ban 2-cycle engines from commuter vehicles. Two strokes are excellent sport engines and they're great in small yard tools, but they pollute far too much to be used for basic transport and it's nearly impossible to clean their act up. So ensure only vehicles with 4-cycle engines can be operated on public highways. 2: Catalytic converters. These will do double duty...firstly they'll clean up what's coming out the back in the first place. Secondly, with how heavily smogged up the joint is, they'll clean the air the engine sucked in as well. They're pretty handy little exhaust filters, and modern catalysts sap so little power from the engine that you can't even spot the difference on the dyno. 3: Get better quality gas on the market. shit gas pollutes, and I don't imagine China has the best quality fuel in the world.[/QUOTE] Except for the part where most of this smog is from Industry not cars, and coal power plants.

[QUOTE=smurfy;39216331][img]http://imgkk.com/i/0jaq.jpg[/img][/QUOTE] Looks like something out of "The Road."

[QUOTE=Pierrewithahat;39218124] Except for the part where most of this smog is from Industry not cars, and coal power plants.[/QUOTE] Shutting the coal plants down is the next step of course, but first and foremost if they get rid of the 2-cycles and start fitting cat converters to everything else the air quality will skyrocket. The catalysts on cars and trucks will filter out more smog than the engines they're attached to produce.

im surprised they havent taken some of the steps above already, maybe there is a problem and they can't implement them? seems wierd they haven't taken much action up to this point over pollution :s

My brother went there for a uni trip last week, he got back yesterday. The whole group just thought it was really foggy, I'm surprised he didn't come home with a third arm

The thing I hate about my home country is that blue, clear skies are so rare, almost nonexistent in any cities. The skies just bear a sort of overwhelmingly hopeless and depressing feeling that just weighs you down whenever you walk around Cheng Du or any other big city. Add in a ton of people and it's even worse. :(

Whenever I read stories about this it reminds me of that one flash comic called "Knites", about a kid that tries putting stars back into the smoggy sky by flying kites with LED strings attached.

[QUOTE=TaniaTiger;39218729]My brother went there for a uni trip last week, he got back yesterday. The whole group just thought it was really foggy, I'm surprised he didn't come home with a third arm[/QUOTE] he didn't notice how grimy everything is?

[QUOTE=trotskygrad;39220395]he didn't notice how grimy everything is?[/QUOTE] He said it was mostly surprisingly clean, although there was a lot of areas that looked sort of run down

[QUOTE=DarkSiper;39218330]im surprised they havent taken some of the steps above already, maybe there is a problem and they can't implement them? seems wierd they haven't taken much action up to this point over pollution :s[/QUOTE] Upgrading to efficient machinery means downtime. downtime means no money, no money means poor economic results which then makes China look like a poor performer and scares shareholders and overseas companies from investing in China. China got itself into a rather nasty place where through being stubborn and greedy it can't easily or quickly clean its air up unless it pushes it to the edge of collapse which of course they simply will not allow.

-snip i'm dumb-

A little fog never hurt no body.

[QUOTE=Pepsi-cola;39221438]A little fog never hurt no body.[/QUOTE] Fog =/= smog

Update on my brother who was there over that hazardous weekend: He's developed a pretty horrendous cough, and he's not the type who ever gets sick. I can only imagine it's from the pollution, I'd hate to think how the people who live there are, they must be choking.

It's basically one big exhaust cloud. Oh god that must suck to be in right now, poor ching chongs :( [highlight](User was banned for this post (""poor ching chongs" :(" - Swebonny))[/highlight]

Seems like a great location to film Silent Hill: The Movie.

[QUOTE=TaniaTiger;39228668]Update on my brother who was there over that hazardous weekend: He's developed a pretty horrendous cough, and he's not the type who ever gets sick. I can only imagine it's from the pollution, I'd hate to think how the people who live there are, they must be choking.[/QUOTE] do the masks and stying indoors helps deal with pollution

[QUOTE=TestECull;39217998]This is simple enough to fix. Here's some simple steps that worked great for us in the 70's. 1: Ban 2-cycle engines from commuter vehicles. Two strokes are excellent sport engines and they're great in small yard tools, but they pollute far too much to be used for basic transport and it's nearly impossible to clean their act up. So ensure only vehicles with 4-cycle engines can be operated on public highways. 2: Catalytic converters. These will do double duty...firstly they'll clean up what's coming out the back in the first place. Secondly, with how heavily smogged up the joint is, they'll clean the air the engine sucked in as well. They're pretty handy little exhaust filters, and modern catalysts sap so little power from the engine that you can't even spot the difference on the dyno. 3: Get better quality gas on the market. shit gas pollutes, and I don't imagine China has the best quality fuel in the world.[/QUOTE] Also plant more trees