China successfully pressured by public to release more data on air pollution in Beijing
China said on Friday that it would begin to publish more detailed air quality data on Beijing later this month, following a public outcry over official government readings that critics said underestimated the severity of the air pollution problem in the smog-filled capital.
The public’s anger over declining air quality has been intensified by hourly readings released by the United States Embassy in Beijing. Those reports, released on a Twitter feed, use the 2.5 standard and paint a far grimmer picture of the city’s air problems, annoying Chinese officials and alarming residents who are aware of the feeds.
Beijing’s “blue sky days” have often turned up in United States Embassy readings as “unhealthy.”
In 2009, a Chinese Foreign Ministry official pressed the United States Embassy to stop reporting the data, saying the information was “confusing” and “insulting,” according to a State Department cable published by WikiLeaks. The embassy continues to release the readings via Twitter.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/07/world/asia/china-to-release-more-data-on-air-pollution-in-beijing.html?_r=1
Glad to see successful pressure from the Chinese public on the government regarding pollution. Great to see the role played by our embassy which has made the more accurate data public for three years.
