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> The trope is that industrialising cities in Asia are smog-ridden I had to stop reading here. This isn't a trope. This is undeniable fact. I've seen it, lived
by exabrial 3y ago
> The trope is that industrialising cities in Asia are smog-ridden
I had to stop reading here. This isn't a trope. This is undeniable fact. I've seen it, lived it, breathed it, have pictures to show.
- diebeforei485 3y agoDepends where and when. China has largely fixed its air quality problems as of 2024.
- nikkwong 3y agoI’m in China right now and I can unequivocally tell you that this is not true. I can hardly see the sun and it’s not due to overcast weather.
- diebeforei485 3y agoIt depends where in China. Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Chongqing, Wuhan, Xi'an, Hangzhou, Qingdao, Dalian, are all doing well. There is more to the country than Beijing and Shanghai (even Shanghai is much improved).
- NickC25 3y agoThey did so for the Olympics by stopping a lot of polluters from operating. As soon as the games left town, the pollution came back.
- em-bee 3y agobeijing's air quality did not get worse after the olympics. (edited to clarify)
- PNewling 3y agoI decided just to google Beijing air quality and both results came back... Not so good. "Dangerous Any exposure to the air, even for a few minutes, can lead to serious health effects on everybody. Avoid outdoor activities." https://www.accuweather.com/en/cn/beijing/101924/air-quality-index/101924 https://www.accuweather.com/en/cn/beijing/101924/air-quality... "Very Unhealthy Health warnings of emergency conditions. The entire population is more likely to be affected." https://aqicn.org/city/beijing/ https://aqicn.org/city/beijing/ So not sure I fully believe that.
- em-bee 3y agotrue, but it wasn't any better during the olympics and i think it was much worse before that. i only got there shortly before the olympics so all i can confirm is that it did not get any worse after. according to this report air quality in beijing continuously improved for the last few decades: https://www.unep.org/resources/report/review-20-years-air-pollution-control-beijing https://www.unep.org/resources/report/review-20-years-air-po...
- diebeforei485 3y agoThere is more to China than just Beijing.
- em-bee 3y agoyes, but the olympics were mainly in beijing, so when it comes to the question of what happened with the air quality after the olympics, beijing matters the most.
- ApolloFortyNine 3y agoSource for this being categorically false [1]. [1] https://www.iqair.com/us/china/beijing https://www.iqair.com/us/china/beijing See the list of cities in China on the left for more...
- diebeforei485 3y agoIt depends where in China. Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Chongqing, Wuhan, Xi'an, Hangzhou, Qingdao, Dalian, are all doing well. There is more to the country than Beijing and Shanghai (even Shanghai is much improved).
- drozycki 3y agoIt’s worth mentioning that each country develops its own AQI scale, so comparisons between countries are meaningless.
- ebiester 3y agoThe trope is the "but that" portion - that is, Western Europe and the US didn't have such concerns.
- crimsoneer 3y ago... Do you think maybe it's worth reading the whole article? > The air becomes cleaner in areas where the economy slumps. The researchers estimate that this cleaner air accounts for more than one-third of the mortality reduction. This may come as a surprise, because we are not accustomed to regarding air pollution as a problem for rich countries — the trope is that industrialising cities in Asia are smog-ridden, but that for America and Europe the only pollutant that need worry us is the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide.
- DoughnutHole 3y agoThere’s something oddly beautiful about someone saying they “had to stop reading” in the middle of the sentence that would have rendered their annoyance moot if they’d only had the patience to finish it.
- ipaddr 3y agoBetter to lead with good news because if you lead with bad there may not be a time for the good.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]