The Beijing government sounded its first-ever air pollution red alert Monday night, prompting numerous city’s 22 million residents to take precautions through yesterday (Dec 10), when strong winds blew the smog away.
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That’s because air pollution in Beijing is directly correlated to the time of year.
It remains unclear how Beijing will respond to future airborne smog peaks, but other cities in the region followed its lead this week by issuing their own red alerts as pollution levels climbed even higher than those seen in the capital. Levels of the poisonous particles in the suburbs were reported at several times that number.
The World Health Organization’s recommended maximum exposure is 25.
Last week, Delhi announced drastic emergency measures to reduce air pollution.
So why red now? What would it take, people wondered last week – as their children felt their way to the still open schools through the poisonous gloom – for the government to act?
Near the East 4th Ring Road, facing west towards Beijing on 1 December…
Since then, crucial decisions made every few months by senior Chinese officials have broadened the public’s understanding of the environmental degradation afflicting the nation, and they have given people more tools to gauge methods for protecting themselves. “You have to do whatever you can to protect yourself”, Li Huiwen told The Associated Press.
Although coal-burning is strictly banned in downtown Beijing and some of its suburban areas, coal is still being used for home heating in all rural areas of the smog-affected Northern provinces.
The miasma came as President Xi Jinping attended a critical meeting on climate change in Paris, a potentially embarrassing coincidence that underscored China’s struggle to control the pollution that contributes to both its chronic smog and global warming.
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Despite large investments in renewable sources, the country still depends on coal for more than 60% of its power.
