Yeah,
My assumption was that they just abandoned the whole thing after the Olympics.
Having Trouble Breathing? Here's Why
Beijingers are used to dubious air quality, but last Saturday (November 7) was a corker even by Beijing standards. I went for a brief walk around midday and soon returned to my apartment feeling ill. My poor wife’s asthmatic lungs were wheezing like a set of bellows all weekend. The image above, taken by NASA last Friday (November 6), shows why.
According to shanghaiist the image reveals a “temperature inversion (i.e. smog bank) that has been trapped on China's coast for the past week.” Don’t worry though, according to the ever-reliable Global Times, it’s actually just fog blotting out our surrounds:
“Dense fog that enveloped the capital city has caused traffic authorities to shut down seven highways except the one to Badaling Great Wall, the China News Agency reported Sunday.”
Who would have guessed mist could make your lungs feel so bad?
While we’re on the subject of air pollution, Dr Richard posted this interesting, if slightly depressing, piece last Friday, about a personal air assessment project he undertook using a hand-held particle scanner.
Some of Dr Richard's finding were quite surprising. He found, for example that air pollution is not significantly worse beside main roads – it’s uniformly awful everywhere, including along tree-lined canals. Even on crystal clear days he found readings of particulate matter dangerously high. And living in high-rise seems to offer no protection – Dr Richard found the particulate matter readings outside his twenty-second story apartment to be exactly the same as on the ground floor.
On a brighter note, he did find indoor air to be considerably better than the atmosphere outside: “Indoor air keeps the worst pollution at bay, and readings were usually 50% of outdoor air.”
So stay indoors as much as possible on those really “foggy” days.
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Not sure what the doctor thinks, but my impression is that the air steadily improved in the 12 months leading up to the Olympics, stayed quite good for about six months after the Games, and then steadily deteriorated again, starting last summer. There were some really bad days in July.
Hi rstcyrmd,
Yeah, I realize the indoor readings were still terrible. Just trying to find a silver lining in the dull gray smog cloud.
We don't have an air purifier, but after last weekend we should probably get one. My wife grew up out west in a city even more polluted than BJ, so I don't think her lungs will ever be great, but days like last Saturday sure don't help.
here's my experience from last weekend:
Post-use dissection of dust filter. I used it for two mornings, walking outside. 4 hours total usage time.
I bought these filters for 16 kuai each at Beijing United. They can, for sure, be found cheaper elsewhere and if you buy in bulk.
1. At left: 3M™ Particulate Respirator 8210, N95, New.
At Right: 3M™ Particulate Respirator 8210, N95, after I used it for a total of four hours over two consecutive days in Beijing.
2. Filter cut in half.
3. First outer gauze layer peeled away, exposing main exterior filter.
4. Main exterior filter cut away, showing second layer.
5. Second layer peeled away to show inner layer. Thankfully, looks clean -- so at least the major shmutz didn't make it to my lungs.
CONCLUSION: WEAR A F*ING MASK
Hi Dan, sorry about your wife and her asthma. Do you have air purifiers at home? After my research last week for that post, I must admit that I'm seriously looking into buying more air purifiers, both for work as well as a second one for home...
Not to burst your "brighter note" bubble there, but my last section about indoor air did say indoor air is about 50% better -- BUT often still dangerous. For example, during last week's unbelievably bad days of way over 500 AQI (near my clinic, via Beijingair), that still means the indoor air is at least 250, which is still quite bad. So, one could stay indoors and play Jenga all day but your asthmatic relatives still could have a lot of trouble...