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Page added on October 7, 2013
No Planes, No Trains, And No Automobiles As Record Smog Shuts Beijing
China started re-opening roads and airports in Beijing and surrounding areas that have been shut by record high levels of smog. An estimated 430 million people were expected to travel during the holiday that ends today and with the air quality index “improving” from its highest possible level to below 200 (the line between heavy and medium pollution), some will be able to return home. The clips below are stunning (and no that is not ‘fog’); summed up best by one Shanghai-based accountant that Bloomberg reports noted, “I won’t go to heavily polluted places like China’s north region as it’s either hazardous to your health or causes trouble when traveling.”
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“Beijing will see light rain tonight, which will make it easier for air pollutants to dissipate,” Beijing Meteorological Bureau said today in its official microblog. The bureau lifted a yellow alert on smog at 8:50 a.m., predicting that visibility will improve.
The closures yesterday of six expressways and disruption at Beijing Capital International Airport underscore the severity of pollution that has become the top cause of social unrest in China.
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Police closed six expressways linking the capital city to Shanghai, Tianjin and Harbin yesterday, and 47 flights at Beijing Capital International Airport were affected.
Some parts of the expressways linking Beijing to Shanghai and Tianjin were still closed as of 9:40 a.m
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The State Council, China’s cabinet, said last month it will cut coal consumption, close steel plants and control the number of cars on its roads to gradually eliminate heavily polluted days in as soon as a decade.
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China will build a nationwide network within three to five years to monitor the impact of air pollution on health, the official Xinhua News Agency reported on Oct. 5, citing the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
10 Comments on "No Planes, No Trains, And No Automobiles As Record Smog Shuts Beijing"
action on Tue, 8th Oct 2013 12:47 am
They should start pumping aerosol nicotine into the air, if people are inhaling smog, they at least deserve a buzz.
In intending to copy the US, they should’ve picked somewhere other than California to be the role model.
BillT on Tue, 8th Oct 2013 1:10 am
This sounds like Pennsylvania in the 50s and 60s before we sent our manufacturing to China. But, here in the States, they would not think of shutting down the consumer treadmill for something like smog. Someone would be selling face masks on every street corner…
DMyers on Tue, 8th Oct 2013 1:42 am
“China will build a nationwide network within three to five years to monitor the impact of air pollution on health, the official Xinhua News Agency reported on Oct. 5, citing the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention.”
Save the time! Don’t spend even three to five minutes on this. Other people in the world have already figured it out. Just ask them. Air pollution is bad for your health!!
Kenz300 on Tue, 8th Oct 2013 4:52 am
Quote — “The State Council, China’s cabinet, said last month it will cut coal consumption, close steel plants and control the number of cars on its roads to gradually eliminate heavily polluted days in as soon as a decade.”
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This is good news…… if China really starts to reduce its coal consumption it will make a huge difference in China and around the world…..
If the world is to have any hope of dealing with Climate Change they need to stop building any more coal fired power plants.
China has started to ramp up their use of alternative energy sources. Wind and solar are growing rapidly in China.
DC on Tue, 8th Oct 2013 6:32 am
Ken, the Chinese are not going to reduce coal consumption just to make you and me happy or the world a better place. Do you understand that?
If they are reducing consumption, it is because the costs of increasing it are simply becoming to great a cost to bear. All the economic ‘growth’ in the world is not going to fix the problems detailed above.
But one notion you should cure yourself of, is that quaint idea they are doing it for the worlds sake. Nor is there ANY evidence that China’s wind and solar installations, such as they are, are having ANY noticeable effect either locally, or globally.
Ok?
Norm on Tue, 8th Oct 2013 8:57 am
Put in some of those big windmills, to blow the smoke away.
mike on Tue, 8th Oct 2013 10:13 am
New Chinese research shows air “pollution” is good for your health. Radiation combined with air pollution is even better at increasing your immune system and helping you overcome depression.
BillT on Tue, 8th Oct 2013 1:45 pm
Mike, the US has already assumed that pollution is good for business and has ceased to regulate it. After all, it supports a lot of businesses: doctors, hospitals, insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, funeral homes, casket makers, florists, grave diggers, lawyers, etc. Not to mention lowering the unemployment rate and the number of unnecessary eaters in the world. It’s good for the GDP!
MrEnergyCzar on Wed, 9th Oct 2013 2:25 am
They are adding too many gas powered cars…. it will only get worse..
MrEnergyCzar
Tooomp on Wed, 9th Oct 2013 3:50 am
The Chinese economy has flipped upside down in the past couple of decades….going from a backwards communist state to a modern opportunistic private/state partnership system that has come to depend upon high economic growth…but, problems are mounting…reminiscent of the housing and Dot com bubbles of the U.S. on a grander scale…smog will likely resolve itself when the bubble bursts…