The stories about China's air pollution issues, and this story in particular, really tend to catch my attention when they break. The pollution issues in China seem pretty surreal, and I am sure that we are only aware of a small portion of the damage being done to human beings and other living organisms in the area. Those who point to these types of issues and just say that they are a price of progress befuddle me. Progress at what cost? I think the world as a whole really became aware of China's pollution problems during and leading up to the Summer Olympics in 2008, but it does not seem like much at all has changed over four years later.
China, an emerging country, is in the way of assuming the first place in the rank of powerful economies in the world. But the high rates of growth bring together a serious problem to the environment, and ironically to the people that live in that land. China has the right to develop its economy, but what is the threshold of right or wrong? Are they so different from the developed countries or the other countries do not have the right to complain about it? Maybe the problem is just the size of China, but the practices are similar from other countries. The fact is that the world just cannot handle a big country like China doing the same things that they used to do. The first people to suffer from that aggressive development of China are the Chinese. Then it will spread to other regions, affecting the world as a whole. It is hard to believe that every country will agree to change its behavior, but at least some kind of agreement has to be made to slow the damages.
To address your blog, I agree that one of the first issues that must be addressed is the urban heat island effect. Due to china's dense urban atmosphere, buildings hold heat which is later radiated during the evening hours. The problem with this is, as the heat radiates from surrounding buildings, that warm polluted air is trapped, leading to smog. Cool air is needed to cleanse this polluted air, but due to China's density, cool air is unable to penetrate these urban areas. As warm air builds up and remains stagnant, it builds up with pollutants. As discussed in your blog, an increase in new construction is only adding to these urban air pollutants. I believe you are on the right track by trying to figure out a solution to this ongoing problem, but your proposed convection idea, may end up resulting in more smog, because urban areas tend to hold in heat.
The stories about China's air pollution issues, and this story in particular, really tend to catch my attention when they break. The pollution issues in China seem pretty surreal, and I am sure that we are only aware of a small portion of the damage being done to human beings and other living organisms in the area. Those who point to these types of issues and just say that they are a price of progress befuddle me. Progress at what cost? I think the world as a whole really became aware of China's pollution problems during and leading up to the Summer Olympics in 2008, but it does not seem like much at all has changed over four years later.
ReplyDeleteChina, an emerging country, is in the way of assuming the first place in the rank of powerful economies in the world. But the high rates of growth bring together a serious problem to the environment, and ironically to the people that live in that land. China has the right to develop its economy, but what is the threshold of right or wrong? Are they so different from the developed countries or the other countries do not have the right to complain about it?
ReplyDeleteMaybe the problem is just the size of China, but the practices are similar from other countries. The fact is that the world just cannot handle a big country like China doing the same things that they used to do. The first people to suffer from that aggressive development of China are the Chinese. Then it will spread to other regions, affecting the world as a whole. It is hard to believe that every country will agree to change its behavior, but at least some kind of agreement has to be made to slow the damages.
To address your blog, I agree that one of the first issues that must be addressed is the urban heat island effect. Due to china's dense urban atmosphere, buildings hold heat which is later radiated during the evening hours. The problem with this is, as the heat radiates from surrounding buildings, that warm polluted air is trapped, leading to smog. Cool air is needed to cleanse this polluted air, but due to China's density, cool air is unable to penetrate these urban areas. As warm air builds up and remains stagnant, it builds up with pollutants. As discussed in your blog, an increase in new construction is only adding to these urban air pollutants. I believe you are on the right track by trying to figure out a solution to this ongoing problem, but your proposed convection idea, may end up resulting in more smog, because urban areas tend to hold in heat.
ReplyDeleteyeah, you probably right, the only sound solution is move the city to another place... There are actually someone talk about it seriously in China..
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