China Asks Other Nations
Not to Release Its Air Data
By Keith Bradsher
June 5th, 2012
This is a picture of
the smoggy and polluted air of one of China’s cities. The man in the picture is
putting a face mask to not inhale the dangerous air.
Summary:
An air censor at the American Embassy
in Beijing, China tweets the air quality results hourly but on Tuesday the
Chinese government took a strong position on the issue. Wu Xiaoqing, the vice minister for environmental
protection, demanded all foreign countries to stop releasing data on
China’s air quality. At the news conference Mr. Wu complained that data from
just a few locations of China only showed a broad quality of air in China. He
also said that China’s air quality was just a mistake due to people labeling
China’s air quality as “hazardous” which adapted to industrial countries. The
American Embassy started tracking and releasing air-quality data in 2008
and in grudging response Chinese and Hong Kong officials released data. The
data showed extremely fine particles showing 2.5 micrometers or less in
diameter, a size that penetrates particularly deep into lungs and has been
linked to cancer and other respiratory problems. This information has been going across
2.5Pm, a popular social media blog similar to Twitter.
Opinion:
When I think I have China I thought more about poverty
and dictatorship but also along the lines of great cities. I thought very
little on the air the Chinese people breathe and never noticed how bad China’s
air quality could be because it is such a big country. My negligence has
brought me astray from the true air quality of China. I can see now that China
very well could be releasing lots and lots of dangerous gases into the air because
it is such a big country. The country makes tons of industries which can
definitely change any country. Though it may not be the country I live in, it
gets me a bit frustrated to hear of the air being polluted enough to penetrate
the lungs causing cancer or respiratory problems. People could die if they keep
inhaling in the gaseous air that covers China especially its cities. In our
country we have similar problems but our government tries to keep it under
control by creating laws and regulations. For a country like China I feel a bit
bad for the government not making enough effort to try keeping the air safe.
Keeping the air safe is the same as keeping the people safe. I think our
country should be concerned about China because it is affecting us too. We are
affected through the global warming that rises higher and higher every day. The
air pollution China is creating is adding more fuel to the fire.
Questions:
1. What other concerns should we have
with China’s air problem? Name 2 reasons and explain.
2. How is China’s economy and how is
that correlating with air pollution? (Think also industry).
3. China is a big country and Mr. Wu
says the air quality data is broad because of the few locations. Do you agree with
this or do you think China’s air quality is actually really dirty? Explain why.
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