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Beijing, you may have heard, has a smog problem. The lung-collapsing weight of the pollution in China's capital city has actually gotten so bad that people have started suing the government over it. One obvious solution might be polluting less, but until China can make that happen, London-based architectural firm Orproject has a different idea.
The "Bubbles" concept is designed to be an encapsulated oasis of clean air, much like the planet-sized air shield from the movie Spaceballs. Bubbles won't be anywhere near planetary, of course. Instead, this air shield will house a park and botanical garden. Above the canopy, an undulating glass roof will contain translucent solar cells meant to collect whatever light actually penetrates Beijing's Mordor-like perpetual gloom.
A performance artist has used particles hoovered up from Beijingās toxic smog-cloud to create a brick, to draw attention to the Chinese capitalās āairpocalypseā. āNut Brotherā, otherwise known as 34-year-old Beijing resident Wang Renzheng, spent four hours a day, for 100 days, using a vacuum cleaner to collect dust from the city's toxic pollution cloud. Since July, Nut Brotherās vacuum cleaner has toured some of Beijingās most famous sites, including the hutongs (old lanes), Tiananmen Square, the Birdās Nest national stadium and the Ministry of Environmental Protection.
Nut Brother and his vacuum cleaner at the Bird's Nest stadium
On the 100th day, 30 November, the artist mixed the collected dust with clay before taking it to a brick factory ā to make a semi-finished brick. In a few days, it will be finished, and stuck in a kiln to be dried and fired. Schoolchildren in the city have been kept indoors in recent days, while others ended up in hospital with breathing difficulties, as Beijing grappled with a huge cloud of pollution made up of carcinogenic PM2.5 particulates - measuring more than 200,000 square miles.
Nut Brother and vacuum cleaner, in Beijing
Notwithstanding some quibbling on social media over how far his brick differs from an ordinary clay brick, Nut Brother told Quartz he came up with the project as a way of enhancing his compatriotsā "relationship between human and nature". "Air in Beijing is bad all over," he added. "Thereās no special supply of air." Nut Brother wants to take the finished brick to a building site to form of an actual building, "just like putting a drop of water in the ocean".
The smog in Beijing is so bad someone made a brick out of it
The sun, like a hazy chandelier, casts a beige glow over Beijing city on smoggy days. We have been suffering through severe air pollution, with measures of harmful fine particulates hitting the feared 700 mark in the capital. For seven days, smog has blanketed the city, as it has before and will again. Children are advised to stay indoors, face masks on, and social media is filled with photos of dim horizons and complaints. The people of China and its media are all too aware of the consequences of environmental degradation. An editorial in state-owned newspaper The China Daily, published last Wednesday, lamented that the severity of the air pollution warranted more action by local authorities, and that āpeopleās health should deserve more attention than the GDP figureā.
Development in China has come at a serious cost to the environment and peopleās health, a reality people contend with daily. Water safety, food contamination, soil poisoning and air pollution are all concerns. But does that extend to climate change? With the urgency of air pollution that can be seen and smelt (when it is smoggy in Beijing, the air is acrid), the long-term effects of greenhouse gas emissions and global warming might take a back seat in the minds of citizens. But the Chinese government appears to have upgraded climate change in its priorities. A government report published ahead of the Paris climate talks, the āThird National Climate Change Assessment Reportā ā compiled by 550 scientists and experts ā warned of the dangers to Chinaās environment and security.
This week, representatives from 195 countries negotiate in the French capital about a document that will affect the future of the planet and its people. The climate change talks are laden with big expectations. Key to this is the perception that a shift has occurred among the biggest polluting countries: China, the US, and (to a lesser extent) India. Among the big polluters, there is increased political will to make binding agreements in tackling CO2 emissions. Together, the top three greenhouse emitters account for more than 40 per cent of the worldās emissions, with China significantly in front of the US, the next biggest emitter, and India. As the worldās leading emitter, China holds the cards in the Paris negotiations. It has support among developing countries such as India, which argues that it should be given the time and leeway that developed countries had in economic advancement.
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Huge smog-ignoring bubbles proposed for Beijing
Huge smog-ignoring bubbles proposed for Beijing | DVICE
Beijing, you may have heard, has a smog problem. The lung-collapsing weight of the pollution in China's capital city has actually gotten so bad that people have started suing the government over it. One obvious solution might be polluting less, but until China can make that happen, London-based architectural firm Orproject has a different idea.
The "Bubbles" concept is designed to be an encapsulated oasis of clean air, much like the planet-sized air shield from the movie Spaceballs. Bubbles won't be anywhere near planetary, of course. Instead, this air shield will house a park and botanical garden. Above the canopy, an undulating glass roof will contain translucent solar cells meant to collect whatever light actually penetrates Beijing's Mordor-like perpetual gloom.
How about following America's model of regulating and forcing clean air standards on corporations?
Huge smog-ignoring bubbles proposed for Beijing
Huge smog-ignoring bubbles proposed for Beijing | DVICE
Beijing, you may have heard, has a smog problem. The lung-collapsing weight of the pollution in China's capital city has actually gotten so bad that people have started suing the government over it. One obvious solution might be polluting less, but until China can make that happen, London-based architectural firm Orproject has a different idea.
The "Bubbles" concept is designed to be an encapsulated oasis of clean air, much like the planet-sized air shield from the movie Spaceballs. Bubbles won't be anywhere near planetary, of course. Instead, this air shield will house a park and botanical garden. Above the canopy, an undulating glass roof will contain translucent solar cells meant to collect whatever light actually penetrates Beijing's Mordor-like perpetual gloom.
How about following America's model of regulating and forcing clean air standards on corporations?
Huge smog-ignoring bubbles proposed for Beijing
Huge smog-ignoring bubbles proposed for Beijing | DVICE
Beijing, you may have heard, has a smog problem. The lung-collapsing weight of the pollution in China's capital city has actually gotten so bad that people have started suing the government over it. One obvious solution might be polluting less, but until China can make that happen, London-based architectural firm Orproject has a different idea.
The "Bubbles" concept is designed to be an encapsulated oasis of clean air, much like the planet-sized air shield from the movie Spaceballs. Bubbles won't be anywhere near planetary, of course. Instead, this air shield will house a park and botanical garden. Above the canopy, an undulating glass roof will contain translucent solar cells meant to collect whatever light actually penetrates Beijing's Mordor-like perpetual gloom.
How about following America's model of regulating and forcing clean air standards on corporations?
Concentrations of microscopic PM2.5 ā small, inhalable particles that can penetrate deep into the lungs and are considered a reliable gauge of air quality ā dropped by 17.9 percent in the first six months against the same period last year, the Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau said on its website late Monday. The number of days in which air quality was rated good grew by 19, to 107, while the number of days with heavy pollution fell by two, to 14, the bureau said. The ongoing closure of 174 heavily polluting Beijing factories was among the reasons given for the improvement, along with the switching of 463 communities from coal to alternative energy sources, the retirement of tens of thousands of exhaust-spewing cars, trucks and buses, and the addition of 6,803 vehicles running purely on electricity. "Since the start of the year, the entire city has assiduously implemented the key tasks of the clean air action plan," the bureau said. "The improvement in air quality citywide has been obvious."
A a woman wearing a mask for protection against pollution walks on a pedestrian overhead bridge as office buildings in Central Business District of Beijing are shrouded with smog. Beijing says its notoriously awful air quality improved significantly in the first half of the year. The Chinese capital's Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau said on its website late Monday, July 18, 2016, that concentrations of microscopic PM2.5 particles dropped by 17.9 percent in the first six months against the same period last year.
With more than 21 million people, Beijing has struggled with the ills of most modern cities, including snarled traffic and a shortage of affordable housing. Air pollution, however, has perhaps had the biggest impact on quality of life, with schools closed and outdoor activities curtailed on particularly bad days. Air pollution was also cited as a concern by evaluators ahead of Beijing being awarded the 2022 Winter Olympics.
A Chinese couple wearing masks to protect against air pollution walk past a Chinese government propaganda slogan for the "Chinese Dream" in Beijing. Beijing's notoriously awful air quality improved significantly in the first half of the year, with actions taken to curb the city's heavy pollution having a positive effect, officials in the Chinese capital said
Actions taken by the central government, especially since 2014, have borne fruit, however, with overall pollution levels in Beijing down in each of the past two years. Coal consumption is the biggest source of air pollution in China. The country is now the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases, although the United States far exceeds it on a per capita basis. Researchers at Germany's Max Planck institute have estimated that smog has led to 1.4 million premature deaths per year in China, while the nonprofit group Berkeley Earth in California has had a higher figure, 1.6 million.
Beijing says air quality improved in first half of 2016
Beijing smog improving...
Beijing says air quality improved in first half of 2016
July 19, 2016) ā Beijing's notoriously awful air quality improved significantly in the first half of the year, with actions taken to curb the city's heavy pollution having a positive effect, officials in the Chinese capital said.
Concentrations of microscopic PM2.5 ā small, inhalable particles that can penetrate deep into the lungs and are considered a reliable gauge of air quality ā dropped by 17.9 percent in the first six months against the same period last year, the Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau said on its website late Monday. The number of days in which air quality was rated good grew by 19, to 107, while the number of days with heavy pollution fell by two, to 14, the bureau said. The ongoing closure of 174 heavily polluting Beijing factories was among the reasons given for the improvement, along with the switching of 463 communities from coal to alternative energy sources, the retirement of tens of thousands of exhaust-spewing cars, trucks and buses, and the addition of 6,803 vehicles running purely on electricity. "Since the start of the year, the entire city has assiduously implemented the key tasks of the clean air action plan," the bureau said. "The improvement in air quality citywide has been obvious."
A a woman wearing a mask for protection against pollution walks on a pedestrian overhead bridge as office buildings in Central Business District of Beijing are shrouded with smog. Beijing says its notoriously awful air quality improved significantly in the first half of the year. The Chinese capital's Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau said on its website late Monday, July 18, 2016, that concentrations of microscopic PM2.5 particles dropped by 17.9 percent in the first six months against the same period last year.
With more than 21 million people, Beijing has struggled with the ills of most modern cities, including snarled traffic and a shortage of affordable housing. Air pollution, however, has perhaps had the biggest impact on quality of life, with schools closed and outdoor activities curtailed on particularly bad days. Air pollution was also cited as a concern by evaluators ahead of Beijing being awarded the 2022 Winter Olympics.
A Chinese couple wearing masks to protect against air pollution walk past a Chinese government propaganda slogan for the "Chinese Dream" in Beijing. Beijing's notoriously awful air quality improved significantly in the first half of the year, with actions taken to curb the city's heavy pollution having a positive effect, officials in the Chinese capital said
Actions taken by the central government, especially since 2014, have borne fruit, however, with overall pollution levels in Beijing down in each of the past two years. Coal consumption is the biggest source of air pollution in China. The country is now the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases, although the United States far exceeds it on a per capita basis. Researchers at Germany's Max Planck institute have estimated that smog has led to 1.4 million premature deaths per year in China, while the nonprofit group Berkeley Earth in California has had a higher figure, 1.6 million.
Beijing says air quality improved in first half of 2016
Large parts of the north were hit by hazardous smog in mid-December, leading authorities to order hundreds of factories to close and to restrict motorists to cut emissions. The latest round of air pollution began Friday and is expected to persist until Thursday, although it is expected to ease slightly Monday, the last day of the new year holiday.
Buildings are seen on a hazy day in Xiangyang, Hubei province, China, Dec. 31, 2016. The current round of air pollution struck Friday and isn't expected to lift until Thursday.
Particle levels especially high
In Beijing, 24 flights were canceled at the cityās main airport, and all buses from there to neighboring cities suspended, the airport said in a statement on its official microblog. Average concentrations of small breathable particles known as PM2.5 were higher than 500 micrograms per cubic meter in Beijing ā 50 times higher than World Health Organization recommendations.
In Tianjin, Beijingās next-door metropolis, the smog was not as serious, but visibility was much worse, with more than 200 flights canceled at Tianjin airport and conditions not expected to improve in the near term, the city government said. Some bus routes and highways in Tianjin were also closed because of the smog, the government added. In Shijiazhuang, the provincial capital of Hebei province that surrounds most of the Beijing, about two dozen flights were canceled and eight flights diverted to other airports because of the smog, the Peopleās Daily said on its website.
A Chinese man is covered by incense smoke as he offers prayers on the first day of the new year at Beijing's Yonghegong Lama Temple as the Chinese capital is blanketed by heavy smog
45 cities on alert
A total of 24 Chinese cities have issued red alerts for the current round of pollution, which mandate measures like limiting car usage and closing factories, while 21 have issued orange alerts, including Beijing and Tianjin. China began a āwar on pollutionā in 2014 amid concerns its heavy industrial past was tarnishing its global reputation and holding back its future development, but it has struggled to effectively tackle the problem. Pollution alerts are common in northern China, especially during winter when energy demand, much of it met by coal, soars. The countryās northern provinces mostly rely on the burning of hundreds of millions of tons of coal each year for heating during northern Chinaās bitterly cold winters.
Chinaās Smog Cancels Hundreds of Flights, Closes Highways
The Chinese capital is set to record its biggest improvement in air quality in at least nine years, with a nearly 20 percent change for the better this year, based on average concentration levels of hazardous breathable particles known as PM2.5. The dramatic change, which has occurred across North China, is partly because of favorable weather conditions in the past three months but it also shows that the government's strong-arm tactics have had an impact.
A traditional pavilion is seen amid smog in Beijing's Houhai area, China
The Reuters' estimates show that average levels of the pollutants in the capital have fallen by about 35 percent from 2012 numbers, with nearly half the improvement this year. "The improvement in air quality is due both to long-term efforts by the government and short-term efforts this winter," said Anders Hove, a Beijing-based energy consultant. "After 2013, the air in summers got much cleaner, but winter had not shown much improvement. This year is the first winter improvement we've seen during this war on pollution."
Government officials this week signaled they were confident they were starting to get on top of the problem. "The autumn and winter period is the most challenging part of the air pollution campaign. However, with the intensive efforts all departments have made, we believe the challenge is being successfully overcome," Liu Youbin, spokesman for the Ministry of Environmental Protection, told reporters Thursday.
Still a long way to go
But environmental experts say that while they are optimistic, it may be too early to celebrate. "The turning point is here but we cannot rule out the possibility we can turn back," said Ranping Song, developing country climate action manager for the World Resources Institute. "We need to be cautious about challenges and not relax now that there have been improvements. There are lots of issues to be solved." And while China has scored an initial victory over smog, it still has to reverse public opinion outside China on its air quality.
A liquefied natural gas storage facility of the ENN Group Co is under construction in Baoding, Hebei province, China
New York-based travel guidebook publisher Fodor's advised tourists in mid-November in its "No List" for 2018 to shun Beijing until the city's anti-pollution campaign had reduced the "overwhelming smog." Fodor's did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In Beijing there is certainly plenty of room for further progress as average air quality is still significantly worse than the World Health Organization's recommendations. And the region still sees bouts of heavy smog. On Friday afternoon, the U.S. embassy's website said Beijing's air was "very unhealthy" and the city issued a pollution alert Thursday.
Embassy monitoring
The Chinese government has been waging a battle to clear its skies of smog that has cut life expectancy in some regions and prompted its citizens to buy masks and air purifiers to protect themselves during peak pollution days. The University of Chicago says in a study released on Monday that while the worldās biggest polluter faces a long road to reach national and international air quality standards, the results āsuggest the country is winning its war on pollution.ā Based on daily data from more than 200 monitors across China from 2013 to last year, the analysis found that cities have cut levels of PM2.5 ā the tiny airborne particles considered most harmful to health ā by an average of 32 percent in just four years. If sustained, such reductions would increase the life expectancy of the average Chinese citizen by 2.4 years relative to 2013. PM2.5 can play a role in heart disease, stroke and lung ailments ,such as emphysema and cancer.
Another study published by the university last year found that air pollution in northern China had cut life expectancy by three years compared with the south of the country. āWe donāt have a historical example of a country achieving such rapid reductions in air pollution. Itās remarkable,ā Michael Greenstone, the economist and director of the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago that conducted the studies, said yesterday. By contrast, it took the US a dozen years and a severe recession to attain similar improvements in air quality after it enacted its 1970 Clean Air Act, he said. āWhat these last four years have demonstrated quite loudly is that things can change and they can change rapidly ā it just requires political will,ā he said.
Delegates walk on Tiananmen Square shrouded with pollution haze as they arrive to attend a plenary session of the National Peopleās Congress at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing
As public discontent mounted over the nationās choking smog, the Chinese Communist Party made clean air a priority. In 2013, it launched an ambitious air pollution action plan that sought to slash PM2.5 levels in key regions, such as the northern Beijing-Hebei-Tianjin area and the Yangtze River Delta, by up to a quarter. In 2014, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (ęå å¼·) declared āwarā on pollution. Since then, teams of inspectors have been deployed across major cities in north China to ensure compliance with pollution standards. Highlighting the challenge facing the country, Beijingās skies were a dismal gray yesterday, as PM2.5 levels soared to 270 micrograms per cubic meter ā more than 10 times the maximum recommended by the WHO for a 24-hour period. However, the capital and other places have made progress.
Beijing cut PM2.5 levels by 35 percent between 2013 and last year, increasing lifespans of its 20 million residents by 3.3 years, the study found. Baoding, Chinaās most polluted city as of 2015, cut pollution by 38 percent, adding 4.5 years of life. āChinaās not held up as a democratic regime, and yet here we have a clear example of the public demanding something and the government delivering it,ā Greenstone said. Yet the war on smog has come with social costs. To clear the skies, authorities ordered thousands of polluting factories to leave urban centers, displacing hundreds of thousands of migrants. They also designated āno-coal zonesā that pushed more than 3 million households in the region around Beijing to abruptly switch over to gas or electric heating, often removing coal boilers before new systems were functional.
China winning war on smog, US study says - Taipei Times
