Blog Tag - Pollution

Changes to Beijing’s Emergency Air Pollution Response System Due Dec 15
Adjustments to Beijing's four-tiered emergency air pollution warning system take effect December 15, raising the threshold of the most dire alert but...
Smoggy Setback: Pollution-Busting Tower Falls Short of Promise
Well, so much for the supposed "smog free tower." Though it was billed as a way to effectively filter pollutants from Beijing's air, Dutch designer...
Beijing Winter Essentials: Survival Items to Kick Mother Nature’s Frigid and Merciless Arse
Winter is rarely a time to relish in Beijing – hellish smog, freezing temperatures, and globules of frozen spit aren’t usually present in Santa’s...
Does Your Favorite Beijing F&B Establishment Filter Its Air?
[Updated Dec 20, 10am] It's pretty grey outside, and looks like most coal-heavy winters, it's likely to stay that way. Some people appear never to be...
Next Week in Weather: Smog, Snow, and a Low of -12 Degrees
Following the false snow alarm earlier this month, it looks set to snow on Monday (Nov 21) instead. This time we're hoping it is for real, because we...
R1: Bei-cology: Can Beijing's New Water Cannons Super Soak the Skies Blue?
Beijing is aiming to super soak its way to clearer skies with pollution-fighting water cannons. As ridiculous as that sounds, it's actually a serious...
This Week's Beijing Weather Forecast: Smog
After a pleasant Sunday, smog returns to Beijing and its weather forecast, just in time for the rest of the week. Beijing and southern Hebei province...
Tech Check: Is Your Air Purifer Among the 25 Percent Found to be Substandard?
Most of us Beijing dwellers have bought an air purifier ahead of the capital's smoggy winter season, and assumed that such a device would be enough...
Beicology: Your Mask Ain't Sh*t if it Don't Got that Fit
As the dark ashen plumes once again descend on Beijing, plenty of us can't seem to strap on a PM2.5-blocking mask fast enough. But do these masks do...
Mandarin Monday: Learn These 10 Pollution Related Chinese Phrases to Help Clear the Air
Mandarin Monday is a weekly column where – similar to our Mandarin Month series earlier this year – we help you improve your Chinese by detailing fun...
Three Quarters Through 2016, Beijing's Air 10 Percent Better Than Last Year
With 75 percent of 2016 in the can, Beijing's air has been 10 percent better than last year, a trend that we endorse with a deep, deep breath and a...
Crank that Filter to 11: Beijing's AQI Goes From Good To Troubling in 2016's Second Quarter
What began as a promising year has plummeted into a dismal repeat of 2015. Beijing's AQI levels were excellent this past January and even better in...
Major Source of Beijing Air Pollution Discovered: You
After blaming power plants and factories in Beijing and Hebei province, chuan'r salesmen, and automobiles, a new study appears to have pinpointed a...
Drive Your Own Pollution Dome: Tesla claims its latest completely protects against PM2.5s
While most cars sputter out toxic exhaust, one car claims to protect you from such pollution. At least that's what electric vehicle maker Tesla is...
Beijing Ranks 11th in Greenpeace Quarterly Provincial Air Pollution Data, Pollution Down 27 Percent Compared to Last Year
In what we can only really consider to be good news, Beijing's PM2.5 pollution levels saw a 27 percent decrease from January to March when compared...