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Katie Halpern, Fiona Nagaswani , Sean Kirkpatrick, Michael Galardi , Sophie Mester, Erin Shibichi , and Amie MCDonough (Not Pictured : Emily Beckwith, James Kocher, Zack Lessner, Kim Shelton, Dunia Tonob) Much thanks to the hand work and dedication Of our 2012-2013 Whittier Seniors .
Airmaggedon -Chinese Pollution Reaches All Time High Jodi Lessner '16 News Writer
an opportunity. When smog swallowed Beijing this month, of surrounding nations. This contamination has created I asked myself. . . what could be done to fix the problem? tension between China and other countries in the region, The answer came easily - solar capacity, renewable power especially with Japan. Unfortunately, the smog is not only We have all heard about global warming and its industry, strict fuel standard, coal and vehicle reduce, etc. staying in Asia. Traces of the pollution have been tracked effects.Goinggreenhasbecomeccol.Schools,businesses, I hope that cleaner air in China will happen soon." as far as California. While the rest of the world works to keep pollution and homes worldwide have joined in on efforts to make The pollution is affecting people 's health drastically. their communities greener. This craze has caught on nearly The smog put into the air has a high particulate matter under control, China lags behind. The Beijing Municipal everywhere , yet we are still facing tremendous problems . (PM) concentration of 2.5. This number represents the Government has taken few steps to reduce the city's carbon Recently, Chinese cities like Beijing produced a record concentration of matter small enough to lodge deep into footprint. Those taken have been limited to temporarily amount of pollution, creating the worst smog and air in lungs and enter the bloodstream. A PM level of 2.5 can shutting factories down and ordering government cars off history. Bloggers have been calling this new pollution cause respiratory infections, asthma, lung cancer, and the road. Without serious cooperation from China to reduce "airpocalypse" and "aimaggedon." cerebrovascular disease. It can also damage a child's their pollution emissions, Western efforts to "go green" It was recently reported that China uses more coal development. The World Health Organization estimates and reduce climate emissions are inefficacious. Bringing than all the other nations in the world combined. China's thatoutdooralrpollutionisthecauseofaroundtwomillion them up to speed on green technologies will be crucial in dependence on this source has created massive issues deathsperyear.65percentofthesepollution-relateddeaths the fight against global warming. The mass amount of pollution has become a symbol regarding smog and pollution. The Air Quality Index, or occur in Asia. AQI, rates air quality on a scale of 0-500. A normal air Kelly Hodge '15 noticed the smog while visiting of widespread discontent with the govemment's failure to quality in the United States is around 40 to 65. The air China on the WFS trip this past summer. She says , "I really reduce the amount of pollution that is being released into quality of China recently reached a record of 755 in mid- enjoyed going to China this past summer. However, the the air. The Chinese government is suspected of trying to January. Air of this quality feels like industrial smoke, whole time we were there, there was not a single day that stop the reports of air pollution by producing propaganda, makes your eyes water, and tastes like chemicals. On bad we could see the sun. Everyday the sky was overcast and with fear that news about decreasing living standards might days the smog can be seen from satellites in outer space. dark. When I realized that the sky was filled with pollution cause social unrest. Many Chinese people stay home in Some days, urban cities, such as Beijing, have a visibility instead of clouds I was really shocked by how bad the fear of breathing in harmful chemicals. Those who must expose themselves to the open air wear facemasks to of around only 100 meters. When the smog becomes this pollution was there." bad, flights are canceled and roads are closed. Pollution The pollution does not only affect China; it also affects protect themselves. The pollution in China has gotten out levels are currently thirty times higher than what is deemed neighboring countries. When pollution clears, it does of hand. A problem once confined mostly to the region safe by the World Health Organization's standards. not vanish. Instead, the pollution goes into sunounding has become a global concern. If China does not stop their Mandarin teacher and Shanghai native Xiaohong Xu countries. The widespread smog is shifted, depending pollution output from increasing, the whole world is going comments, "Smog in my motherland is a disaster, but also on the force and direction of the wind, into the airspace to suffer the consequences. I
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