A thick smog, rated as 'Hazardous' by the U.S. embassy, hangs over central Beijing on February 20, 2014. Severe pollution has made the Chinese capital "barely suitable" for living, according to a new official Chinese report. (File/UPI/Stephen Shaver) |
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BEIJING, Feb. 25 (UPI) -- For the sixth day in a row, China's capital is shrouded in a think layer of dirty air. But Beijing isn't alone. More than 15 percent of the giant Asian country is currently covered in smog, and Chinese officials have announced an "orange" alert -- only the second time the second-highest warning level has been issued.
Government officials said they are sending out teams of investigators to inspect major polluters in Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei province. Offenders of production standards will be shamed, the government said.
Smog pollution is measured by determining the number of small particulates, or PM2.5 (particles measuring 2.5 microns or larger), in a cubic meter of air. Beijing's PM2.5 measure hit 515 today, and has hovered above 400 for several days. The World Health Organization (WHO) advises that day-long exposure to small particulates shouldn't rise above 25.
“The real work has to happen to get to the sources of the pollution and eliminate that over time,” Bernhard Schwartlander, WHO's representative in China, said today at a brief in Beijing. "We have to put more pressure on all of the authorities and all the industry production to improve so we can actually reduce the very heavy pollution.”
Authorities with the Ministry of Environmental Protection put at least some of the blame on "unfavorable meteorological conditions and firework and firecracker spree(s)."
Social unrest over the impenetrable smog has been growing for some time now, and both government officials and ordinary citizens have been speaking out. The communist government’s top climate-change adviser, Li Junfeng, said the situation was at the “unbearable stage.”
A man in northern China recently filed a lawsuit against the local government in Shijiazhuang, claiming he is owed more than $1,000 for air filters he's had to purchase to keep the particulates out of his house, as well as the treadmill he bought due to his inability to exercise outside.
Last month, the mayor of Beijing, Wang Anshun, promised to spend $124 billion to ameliorate pollution problems in the city by 2017.
Pollution is sure to be a topic of discussion when China’s legislature holds its annual meeting in the nation's capital next week.
[Bloomberg Businessweek]
[CNN]
