Chicago Tribune (June 29)
“As Canadian wildfire smoke blanketed Chicago on Tuesday and Wednesday, the Windy City earned the unwelcome distinction of having the ‘worst air quality of any major city in the world.’” North American wildfires are proliferating and “today consume twice as much land… than they did in the 1990s.” This is clearly “a climate issue. But if we fail to take action on forest management, the impacts of climate change—drier, hotter, longer fire seasons—will only further contribute to the flammability of our overly dense forests.”
Tags: Air quality, Canada, Chicago, Climate change, Drier, Fire seasons, Flammability, Forest management, Hotter, Impacts, Smoke, Wildfires
Bloomberg (March 1)
“China’s lockdown measures to minimize further coronavirus infections have created one unexpected benefit—a dramatic improvement to the nation’s air quality.” Satellite imagery is detecting “significant drops of major airborne pollutants above vast swathes of the country.”
Tags: Air quality, Airborne, China, Coronavirus, Infections, Lockdown, Satellite
Fortune (January 10)
“China’s air quality has been particularly bad so far this winter. Severe smog or haze episodes have occurred one after another with short breaks in between… Last week, Beijing issued its first-ever red alert for ‘fog’ due to extremely low visibility caused by haze.” While winter weather is a complicating factor, the main blame lies elsewhere. “The reality is that new regulations to curb pollution aren’t enough, and the latest alert signals that China’s government needs to do more.”
Tags: Air quality, Beijing, China, Government, Haze, Pollution, Red alert, Regulations, Smog, Visibility
Institutional Investor (November Issue)
“After three decades of breakneck economic growth, China is cleaning up its act. Lately, Beijing has been rolling out a raft of environmental regulations, chief among them June’s announcement of ten measures to improve urban air quality, including a target to reduce emissions from highly polluting industries by 30 percent within four years.”
Tags: Air quality, Beijing, China, Economic growth, Emissions, Environmental regulations, Highly polluting industries, Urban
Bloomberg (July 11)
“Fewer than one percent of the 500 largest cities in China meet the air-quality standards recommended by the World Health Organization. Seven are ranked among the 10 most-polluted cities in the world, according to a 2012 report by the Asian Development Bank.” But increasing protests suggest, change may be in store. “In China, the authorities aren’t deaf to the protests.”
Financial Times (May 7, 2013)
“Pollution in China is now so bad that it threatens to obscure the vision being laid out by Xi Jinping, the new president…. The leadership needs to rethink its national goals. After all, what is the point of rapid economic growth if it creates cities in which it is dangerous to breathe?”
Tags: Air quality, China, Cities, Economic growth, Goals, Pollution, Xi Jinping
Wall Street Journal (March 15)
China is being forced to focus on the environment due to chronic air quality issues in Beijing and the discovery of 6,000 dead pigs in tributaries that provide Shanghai’s drinking water. “The pork soup scandal, as it has been dubbed, hits the trifecta of Chinese mistrust of government: lack of a plan to protect the public interest instead of companies and officials, political corruption that fails to hold polluters accountable, and withholding timely information when disaster strikes.”
Tags: Air quality, Beijing, China, Environment, Government, Pigs, Pollution, Shanghai, Water quality