The Green Timberwolf

Smog in China Causes a Red Alert

Blogged by: Zack Q

Photo by Getty Images

On December 7, this Monday the city of Beijing raised a red alert due to the mass amount of smog levels in the air. Although China has had problems with this in the past, they have never had to call a red alert for smog before. Because of this Schools as well as some construction operations have been cancelled from Monday until this Thursday. More effects of this alert by the Chinese government will be a 30% decrease of traffic to lower CO2. China’s energy is still based 60% on coal, despite trying to adopt more efficient ways for industrial production.  

Photo by Getty Images

In 2013 this red alert system was created by the Chinese government for situations like these. The red alert was to be put into action if there was a prediction that the air quality index would rise above 200 for more than 72 hours. According to the American air quality index if the air quality is above 200 it is very unhealthy and become dangerous at around 300. On Monday Beijing was about halfway at an air quality index rating of 253!

Citizens of China are of course not happy with this situation, but are used to the smog. A citizen was reported saying “The smog is like toxic gas. I never had a sore throat before, but since last year my throat’s been hurting when I speak more” Another said “I’m used to the smog. I’d find a day when the sky is blue unusual.” These comments are just a few examples of what the 24.9 million citizens of Beijing are used to.

For the Chinese government this event served as a wake-up call. Chinese local authorities were urged by the public to put more priority on maintaining the environment they live in. The Chinese newspaper China Daily said “ people’s health should deserve more attention than the GDP figure”. The Chinese government say they are changing priorities to reduce their harmful emissions and find cleaner ways to produce energy.

This story is a good extreme example of what can happen if production becomes overly important without looking at the environmental aspects. Industrial coal burning is cheap, but not very healthy for the environment. Hopefully China will adopt a cleaner and more efficient way to fuel their industry in the future.

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