Climate Change and Coal Bring Red Alerts to the Streets of Beijing

December 8, 2015 – I wouldn’t want to live in Beijing. The images in the last few days of a city wrapped in a blanket of smog appear apocalyptic. This image taken in downtown Beijing was captured on Wednesday in the early afternoon. It resembles those seen in 1952 when a killer fog decimated London causing 4,000 deaths.

The city has been on its highest smog alert, coloured red. It has been under this alert for several days and the emergency measures remain in place until at least December 10. Schools are closed. Even indoor air is causing respiratory distress among children and the elderly. You can only drive your car every other day. Trucks and other heavy vehicles are banned.

Particulate matter levels, that is what makes Beijing’s air so visible, has reached 976 micrograms. Above 300 is considered hazardous. To see just how bad the air pollution has become check out the photograph at COP21: Thick smog veils Beijing during extreme pollution alert. The first photograph at this site has a slider to show you what you would see under normal air conditions and what you see now. It is frightening in the sense that this isn’t natural fog but rather totally human-made.

The picture of the two Air China aircraft at Beijing’s International Airport are a stark illustration of just how bad conditions are.

The particulate matter is so thick that the Sun can be mistaken for the Moon when ever it appears through the haze. And even during midday apartment dwellers have to keep their lights on.

China’s efforts to combat climate change are still in the future. The country has pledged to cap its carbon emissions by 2030 and then begin reductions. That means more particulate matter getting into the air and in urban centres, many more red alerts. Air pollution in China kills 4,000 people a day. That’s 1.6 million per year. The images seen here are human-created weather events. As one writer describes it “the demons of our own creation.”