Beijing's Air Quality Is Way Unsafe

A big area of research that I'm working on is air quality.  Recently I was browsing the web and saw a New York Times article stating that the quality of air for Beijing, China reached 755. That's 20 times over what is deemed safe. The EPA says the levels between 301 and 500 are “hazardous” and outdoor activity should be avoided. This is alarming that Beijing’s air quality is so high. In fact, in 2012 the American Lung Association State of the Air report stated that though there is an improvement in air quality in many places, “over 127 million people—41 percent of the nation—still suffer pollution levels that are too often dangerous to breathe.” Air is what we need to survive and if the air is polluted, many people can get sick or die.

According to the article, Beijing’s embassy's Twitter called the reading “crazy bad” and that terminology was used back in November 2010. It was quickly deleted off the Twitter feed then. NASA released images of Beijing, taken by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite, on January 3 and January 14, 2013.

 January 3

 January 14

You can see the difference between the two days with significantly less visibility appearing on the latter date. This is really bad. People should not have to wear masks or like one man in the article said; he had air purifiers running at full power.

Much of the pollution is caused by particulate matter (PM) which is trapped in the air. This particulate matter can be caused by factories, cars and biomass burning, though the structure of the region can have effect on the air quality as well. Much of the particulate matter that is measured is PM 2.5. PM 2.5 refers to the diameter of matter itself is 2.5 microns or smaller. Here is a graph showing the comparison of PM 2.5 to a human hair.

PM 2.5 might seem small but this matter can get into the lungs and cause respiratory problems such as asthma, bronchitis, pneumonia, emphysema and other health problems. The matter can also contribute to premature deaths. In fact one article states that, "Hospitals have also reportedly admitted 20 to 30 percent more patients, who complained of respiratory issues that were likely caused by breathing heavily polluted air." Talk about visibility too. With that much particles hanging in the atmosphere, visibility can be little to none, which makes it hard for transportation like buses and planes. Here is a comparison of Beijing's skyline. The top is from August 29, 2010 and the bottom is January 14, 2013.

 According to the article, “Xinhua, the state news agency, reported on Dec. 31 that Beijing’s air quality had improved for 14 years straight, and the level of major pollutants had decreased. A municipal government spokesman told Xinhua that the annual average concentration of PM 10, or particles 10 microns in diameter or smaller, had dropped by 4 percent in 2012, compared with one year earlier.” Through this statement and actuality however, something should really be done about Beijing’s air, as the pollution is a big danger for the people who live there. The article states there is an outcry for more data about the PM 2.5 levels in the area. The PM 2.5 data should be released as it can be more deadly.