Beijing Air Quality Hits Level 5 (Hazardous) For Two Straight Days - AFP

[hatrack]

BEIJING - Air pollution in Beijing hit ”hazardous” levels for the second day running on Monday, amid warnings from the state meteorological bureau of sandstorms to engulf north China in the coming days.

A haze of dust and smog hovered over Beijing for much of the weekend with the air pollution rated at the highest level of five on both Sunday and Monday, the Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau said on its website.

Level five is the highest on the bureau’s classification system and means the air quality is “hazardous”. When air quality hits level five, the city normally issues warnings to elderly people and children to stay indoors and avoid strenuous activities.

The problem could worsen as a Siberian cold front was moving quickly into northern China’s Inner Mongolia and Gansu province, generating serious dust storms that could reach the nation’s capital, the bureau warned.

EDIT

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[lvx35]

1. China is in a position to show leadership by switching to clean energy

the only problem is that they are following us as their economic role models, and we have shown no leadership there.

[Warpy]

2. The main problem is economic for over a billion people

and the cheapest way to heat their houses and cook their food is with compressed coal dust blocks as fuel. It's an incredibly filthy fuel and there is no way that households can afford scrubbers if they can't afford natural gas or solar or any of the other possibilities.

The air quality there was barely tolerable before they got rich enough to get internal combustion engines instead of bicycles. Now it's going to be lethal very quickly.

[madrchsod]

3. it will blow this way

nice to know that no matter what we do, china will be exporting their pollution to the usa.