Activists Crack China’s Wall of Denial About Air Pollution...

[Indi Guy]

BEIJING — Weary of waiting for the authorities to alert residents to the city’s most pernicious air pollutant, citizen activists last May took matters here into their own hands: they bought their own $4,000 air-quality monitor and posted its daily readings on the Internet.

That began a chain reaction. Volunteers in Shanghai and Guangzhou purchased monitors in December, followed by citizens in Wenzhou, who are selling oranges to finance their device. Wenzhou donated $50 to volunteers in Wuhan, 140 miles inland. Officials have claimed for years that the air quality in fast-growing China is constantly improving. Beijing, for example, was said to have experienced a record 274 “blue sky” days in 2011, a statistic belied by the heavy smog smothering the city for much of the year.

But faced with an Internet-led brush fire of criticism, the edifice of environmental propaganda is collapsing. The government recently reversed course and began to track the most pernicious measure of urban air pollution — particulates 2.5 microns in diameter or less, or PM 2.5. It decreed that about 30 major cities must begin monitoring the particulates this year, followed by about 80 more next year.

The Ministry of Environmental Protection also promised to set health standards for such fine particulates “as soon as possible.” Last week, after years of concealing its data on such pollutants, Beijing began publishing hourly readings from one monitoring station...

[link:http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/28/world/asia/internet-criticism-pushes-china-to-act-on-air-pollution.html?ref=todayspaper|

[onethatcares]

1. maybe it's just me, but

the simple fact that people are selling oranges to buy monitoring devices shows they are more in tune with their surroundings than we in the United Corporate States of America will ever be.

[Confusious]

2. It's just you.

We have bake sales to fund school in the United States. Are we "in touch" with our "surroundings" or does it only apply if you're selling fruit or not American?

[onethatcares]

4. ah, those schools are so over rated, dontcha think?

do bake sales really fund the schools, or just the happy smiling part of them? Have the public schools been reduced to selling cupcakes in order to buy text books and lab supplies?

Maybe what you are experiencing is just a totally American opportunity to provide for your children.

I'm at a loss here.

Those Chinese folks with air quality monitors, not so much.

[Dreamer Tatum]

7. Wow - took exactly one post to bash the US.

Right now there are millions of people in this country sacrificing to make their environment a better place to be. Go scoff at something else.

[MADem]

3. Blue Sky days? Yeah, sure--Navy blue!!! nt

[lunasun]

5. even with the EPA etc there is bad pollution in areas around here I can name so I can not

imagine how bad it gets there with less regulation, but my daughter wore a mask when in one area of Shanghai - locals advised it - other areas were fine within the same metropolis - at least not mask worthy.
They have masks with designs for kids sort of like diapers here have cute bear prints etc.
sick
another product to profit from

[David__77]

8. People in China wear surgical masks if they are sick.

I wish that would catch on here as well...

http://zidbits.com/2011/12/why-is-common-to-see-people-wearing-surgical-masks-in-asian-countries/

[AlecBGreen]

6. this is HUGE

China's burgeoning middle class has the power to shape the country for the better. Lets hope the push for increased environmental standards and a clean, livable nation keep up.