KILLER AIR POLLUTION IN CHINA
By Anton Antonio
September 9, 2015
On August 7, 2015, I published an article titled “The
Dirtiest Airspace in the World” on my blogsite http://antonantonio.blogspot.com/
identifying China as the world’s unhealthiest place due to the extraordinary
levels of air pollution. Exactly a week
after (August 14, 2015), the Associated Press came up with a news article
titled “Air Pollution Killing 4,000 in China a Day – US Study”. Please read…
“AIR POLLUTION KILLING 4,000 IN CHINA A DAY – US STUDY
Associated Press
August 14, 2015
WASHINGTON --- Air pollution is killing about 4,000 people
in China a day, accounting for 1 in 6 premature deaths in the world’s most
populous country, a new study finds.
Physicists at the University of California, Berkeley, calculated that
about 1.6 million people in China die each year from heart, lung and stroke
problems because of incredibly polluted air, especially small particles of
haze. Earlier studies put the annual
Chinese air pollution death toll at 1 to 2 million, but this is the first to
use newly released Chinese air monitoring figures. The study released Thursday blamed emissions
from the burning of coal, both for electricity and heating homes. The study, to be published in the journal
PLOS One, uses real air measurements and then computer model calculations that
estimate heart, lung and stroke deaths for different types of pollutants. Study lead author Robert Rohde said that 38
percent of the Chinese population lives in an area with a long-term air quality
average that the US Environmental Protection Agency calls “unhealthy.” “It’s a very big number,” Rohde said
Thursday. “It’s a little hard to wrap
your mind around the numbers. Some of
the worst in China is to the southwest of Beijing.” To put Chinese air pollution in perspective,
the most recent American Lung Association data shows that Madera, California,
has the highest annual average for small particles in the United States. But 99.9 percent of the eastern half of China
has a higher annual average for small particle haze than Madera, Rohde
said. “In other words, nearly everyone
in China experiences air that is worse for particulates than the worst air in
the US,” Rohde said. In a 2010 document,
the EPA estimates that between 63,000 and 88,000 people die in the US from air
pollution. Other range from 35,000 to
200,000. Unlike the US, air pollution in
China is worst in the winter because of burning of coal to heat homes and weather
conditions that keeps dirty air closer to the ground, Rohde said. Beijing will host the 2022 Winter
Olympics. Outside scientists praise the
research. Jason West at the University
of North Carolina said he expects “it will be widely influential.” Allen Robinson at Carnegie Mellon University
said in an email that parts of the United States, like Pittsburgh, used to have
almost as bad air but have become much cleaner “through tough regulations
combines with large collapse of heavy industry (it moved to Asia).” As China starts to clean up its air, limiting
coal use, it will also reduce emissions from carbon dioxide, the chief global
warming gas, Rohde said.” --- Associated Press
Four thousand people dying in one day in one country (China)
alone, even as it is the most populated country in the world, is a worrisome
figure. The single-biggest cause for
this extraordinary death rate is carbon emissions. Therefore, it’s a no-brainer thought that
bringing down carbon emission will subsequently decrease the killer air
pollution in China.
Thoughts to
promote positive action…
(Please
visit, like and share Pro EARTH Crusaders on Facebook or follow me at http://antonantonio.blogspot.com/
and http://twitter.com/EarthCrusader/)
REFERENCES:
Antonio, A. C. (2015). “The Dirtiest Airspace in the World”.
Retrieved on September 9, 2015 from http://antonantonio.blogspot.com/2015/08/the-dirtiest-airspace-in-world.html
Newsinfo. Inquirer.net, (2015). “Air Pollution Killing 4,000
in China a Day --- US Study”. Retrieved
on September 9, 2015 from http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/712970/air-pollution-killing-4000-in-china-a-day-us-study
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