Entry 11 - October 21, 2013

Record-high smog in China closes schools, roads

October 21, 2013 BBC

    Winter brings the worst air pollution to China because of a combination of weather effects and a large amount of burning coal for homes and heating systems. When the city's heating systems kicked in on Sunday, the smog was so bad that you would barely be able to see 50 meters in some parts of China.Wu Kai, a 33 year old housewife said that she couldn't see anything outside the window of her apartment and she thought that it was snowing when actually it wasn't snow at all. She says that she hasn't seen the sun in a long time. Because of this pollution, some buses have stopped running and flights have been cancelled. The Chinese government is trying to step up and take action to help with the air pollution. Beijing's city environmental monitoring center warned children, the elderly, and citizens with respiratory illnesses to reduce the outdoor activity. China's action plan is to reduce the amount of coal burning, which makes up 68.4% of the city's energy production, to below 65% by 2017.

    I think that it's insane how many citizens of China have to wear masks around the city because the pollution is that bad. Personally, I wouldn't be able to live in an area like this because I would feel dirty all the time and I'd much rather be breathing clean, fresh air. I don't think that China's government is doing a good job of reducing the amount of air pollution. The decrease in coal usage that China aims to achieve is so small that it's almost insignificant and I don't think that it will help very much at all. They should limit their cars to hybrids only or something like that because some people are even suffering asthma attacks because of this pollution and something drastic needs to be done quickly.