April 10, 2007
Shanghai air quality now sucks even harder
Part of the joy of living in Shanghai is mocking Beijingers and their dust storms, but events from last week might mean that we have to hold our tongue in the future. Around April 2-3, Shanghai got a huge dust storm—and how bad was it? The API index, which measures the density of particulate matter in the air, goes from 0 to 500, with 300-500 being level V or heavy pollution. Shanghai's average value is in the 200's, but on the day of the dust storm, we hit 500.
This broke the previous record of API 434 set on April 8, 2002. Why did this happen? The dust storms start out in the northwest, but whether or not they hit Shanghai depends on the strength of the storms plus air currents—if we're lucky, the trajectory of the storms goes by us.
Environmental degradation inevitably becomes a public health issue—the number of asthma patients in local hospitals has doubled in recent weeks, especially with middle-aged and older folks.
For those of you who, like Shanghaiist, are well-acquainted with that lovely feeling of light asphyxiation called the asthma attack, you probably know that the local pharmacies all carry Ventolin for 30-40 RMB. Stock up, because there's just no way to get away from bad air—take a look at what the China Daily has to say:
According to a recent report by the Shanghai Indoor Environment Purifier Association (SIEPA), about 95 percent of the city's office buildings do not regularly clean their central air conditioning systems, and less than 5 percent of the 4,000 high-rise properties in Shanghai reported that they cleaned their ventilation systems on an annual basis.Neglecting ventilation facilities results in serious indoor air pollution, and can cause considerable harm to a worker's health.
That blows! It almost makes us not want to work in an office.
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Wind currents from Siberia are common for the Shanghai metro area in the spring and fall, the dust storms may become more frequent as the desert creeps closer to Beijing. As it is you can see the dunes from most buildings over 30 stories in BJ. Now Shanghai too will pay the price for 5000 years of continuous forest cutting in the Yellow River valley.
The sky is blue and the grass is green...10 years ago.
I took a look at this site (www.semc.com.cn) and it seems the average API for Shanghai is around 100. The majority of the days are level II, or good air quality, which is 50-100. I read the linked article and it's unclear to me what the 200 is an average of. Maybe during past sandstorms???
So breathe easy, people.
Disclaimer: I don't pretend to be an environmental engineer.
No wonder I couldn't breath during those days. I just thought it was the flowers blooming!
The average of 100 may reflect visibility while 200 reflects chemical air quality.
no...the site gives APIs for the amount of particles and 2 (harmful, i guess) chemical components. As of today, they are 68 (good), 41 (excellent), 30 (excellent).
Maybe the dust storm cleared up the air.
I'm amazed there are not more cases of Legionaire's Disease from dirty A/C units. Or maybe they just don't publicise it.
Leave your windows open for 1 hour and see how many particulates collect on tables, floor, etc and ask yourself "is this an acceptable concentration?".
Besides, this agency is a private venture by the Shanghai city gov't, how many other statistics put forth by authorities do you trust?
Do you trust them enough to go jogging outside?
Dust storms don't clear the air, rain does. You can skew the results by taking particulate and chemical samples right after a good soaking rain.
Legionaire's Disease? I think that is more common with central A/C units servicing large numbers of people. Those little office units will just spread around everyone's sore throats.
what's wrong with sucking hard
Nothing gwennie, nothing at all.
Why the childish headline, Peijin?
Yo, it sucks, dude!
I trust them more than you and your method of judging air quality, that's for sure.
So close the windows and lock youself up if you like. Oh, don't forget to clean the A/C duct while you're at it.
How about this as a fair test, yesno:
Can you see further than 3km? if no, and if the sky is hardly ever blue, and the city is filled with heavy traffic, surrounded by factories and lorries, then it is most likely very polluted.
If you trust gov stats then you have serious problems.
Sure I can see beyond 3km, on most days. And here is the proof: www.flickr.com/photos/lozinho/453944631.
If you can't, lasik is getting cheaper by day.
Let's take a step back and say the API was under-reported by 50%. It's still nowhere near the 200 you and your possy are hoping for.
And btw, the 200 and 500 quoted in the article are gov. data, I suspect. You must question them as well (like they should be 500 and 1000, haha).
I don't give a fuck how the government skews / selective samples / creates their own scale on air pollution, this city is heavily polluted. 'Level 2' is good only because they define it as 'good'. In actual fact, it's not good at all, not even close.
yes_no_maybe is obviously a product of the lcoal education system.
Haha...you must have been home-schooled (or still are), for the obivous reasons.
If your body meter tells you SH is heavily polluted, run with it. I don't give a rat's ass. Can SH use cleaner air? of course. IS SH one of the most polluted city in CHina or the world for that matter? No.
Given that China now boasts a wonderful auto industry that's growing and the population is experiencing amazing economic growth, which is good.Why doesn't the Chinese govt' introduce Natural Gas powered automobiles like the taxi's in Thailand? They produce 80% less greenhouse gases and are available straight off the factory floor in lots of places but not in China? The government has a huge job to clean the air in cities like Shanghai and if they used hybrid electric/gasoline or natgas/electric it would go a long way to help the quality of air and it could also break the terrible monopoly oil companies and their lobby groups have imposed on many weaker and short sighted western governments. Check these cars out on www.myphill.com and ask yourself why you can't have one?
many taxis in SH run on natural gas, some buses too. However, I just read that their #'s are declining fast, forcing some natural gas stations to shut down. Not a good thing.
"If your body meter tells you SH is heavily polluted, run with it. I don't give a rat's ass."
If you had any life experience in a western country (or even HK pre-2004, Singapore or Japan) you'd appreciate what cleanliness was. Instead you live a lie that SH and China in general is clean and healthy. Your parents learned how to swim in canals and lakes, now your skin would fall off if you did such a thing. The WHO has CHina listed as "Bad country #1" when it comes to pollution.
And you don't care, that is problem #1.
I hate to be the one to break it to you yes_no_maybe, but Shanghai is a very polluted city in an extremely polluted country. It's a simple fact of life. Everyone knows it, but we persist because there are so many other things we like about this city. Such as posh bars with strict door policies, ay-i's, cheap taxis, etc.
You probably have no idea what a big blue sky looks like. If no country will let you in, you could always take a trip out West, to Xinjiang, where despite the best efforts of the Chinese to destroy the natural environment out there, one can still enjoy the most spectacular skies in China (not to mention great food and hospitality).
Oh, and while I'm at it, much of Shanghai smells like shit, in case you are oblivious to that too. (Donghu Lu is a real stinker, by the way; what's with that? I thought that was a more "civilised" part of town.)