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Great news, only clear skies for a couple of days but its still great to hear that this issue can be so easily solved... also shows how much harm we humans do to the environment and on a more positive note how easily we can control it... also shows how the whole "poor air pollution in Chinese cities" criticism is pretty much all over hyped.
You can't function shutting down your factories and banning cars in your city long term of course, but maybe these can happen on a smaller scale. maybe a congestion tax similar to London. factories are still an issue but i suppose you could relocate them all east of the city?
Great news, only clear skies for a couple of days but its still great to hear that this issue can be so easily solved... also shows how much harm we humans do to the environment and on a more positive note how easily we can control it... also shows how the whole "poor air pollution in Chinese cities" criticism is pretty much all over hyped.
You can't function shutting down your factories and banning cars in your city long term of course, but maybe these can happen on a smaller scale. maybe a congestion tax similar to London. factories are still an issue but i suppose you could relocate them all east of the city?
It can basically be solved when China de-industrialized, or spend tons of money refitting all of its factories etc. Once that's done, Chinese products will need to become more expensive to cover the costs because someone has to pay for it.....
4,400 Dying Every Day In China Due To Air Pollution - Horrors!
Myself, having COPD, with times I didn't think I could catch my next breath, my heart goes out to these suffering souls over there, dying and suffering every day. I can't think of a worse way to die!
I rate this tragedy as horrific as the plight of the Syrian refugees!
I'm surprised there's not a flow of migrants out of China to escape all this!
If it was easy to fix you would have blue skies every day. To get blue skies during these high profile events the government bans cars, shut down nearby power plants, puts factory production on hold, etc. These steps are impossible to do every day--therefor it is not an easy fix.
The industrial revolution in hindsight wasn't a good idea, the best way to protect the environment is less people and clean energy. If you want to change the world get a vesectomy.
If it was easy to fix you would have blue skies every day. To get blue skies during these high profile events the government bans cars, shut down nearby power plants, puts factory production on hold, etc. These steps are impossible to do every day--therefor it is not an easy fix.
Definitely not an easy fix.
It is easy for westerners to mock China's pollution problem, but the Chinese government is more aware of it than we do. However, finding a permanent solution is not easy, and if handle in the wrong way, it may cause bigger problems.
First is unemployment. As we can see, shutting down the heavy industrial factories for a few days improve the air quality tremendously, but can they afford to do that? millions of jobs rely on those factories. Just imagine if your parents work for a steel factory, are you willing to give up your job for the sake of everyone has better air? The pollution is definitely a consequence of China's rapid growth, but whether it is worth it or not is not that simple. Ask the Chinese if they want 40% lower income but cleaner air to breathe, and I am sure you will get different answers.
Second, China's resources are limited. It has about 10-15% of gas or oil per capita of world average. This is why it burns a lot of coal (even that is only 65% of world average). It is easy to say clean energy, but where to get them? It is not Russia or Canada or US where resources are abundant and people are much fewer. China is more aggressive than anyone in developing nuclear, hydro and solar energy - then people complain about the environment impacts from the three Gorges Dams.
Third, rich countries have all been there. Not many years ago London's air was so filthy that thousands of people, even cows died from it. The US has been there too, true it is 2015 but China's 2015 and rich countries' 2015 are vastly different, and I don't know why one should expect so. So this "I am cleaner than you" attitude is extremely arrogant. India for example is growing hardly as fast but its air is equally bad, if not worse, yet western media rarely make a big deal out of it.
And fourth, aren't rich countries partly responsible for that pollution? China exports most of its products to them as we know. Rich countries are simply past the phase of keeping the heavy manufacturing and pollution in their own land and transfer the danger elsewhere. If China stops making so much, the pollution will be somewhere else - Vietnam, Bangladesh, whatever.
Give it time guys. When China wants to do something, it will get it done, sooner than you see elsewhere.
The industrial revolution in hindsight wasn't a good idea, the best way to protect the environment is less people and clean energy. If you want to change the world get a vesectomy.
that assumes better environment is more important than everything else, which not everyone agrees with. People in Los Angeles can move to the mountainous states for better air, how come they haven't.
I don't care about what economists say about China's impending doom due to low birth rates....It's GREAT!!! For too long, the Chinese have sacrificed quality for quantity, even in its people. It's understandable when the country is backward and agrarian. But if China wants to evolve, it needs less people, and higher quality people. Who want a thousand peasants squatting on the side of the street when 10 educated college grads can move the country forward in innovation? They eat less , demand greater consumer comfort and they add far greater value to the things they do.
Same thing with the environment. Who wants 1000 peasants over 10 pandas or 10 white fin dolphins? I pick the dolphins and the pandas anyday.
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4,400 Dying Every Day In China Due To Air Pollution - Horrors!
