At the beginning of the 2017 New year, haze has once again become the focus of the people of the country.
It is reported that 72 cities in Beijing, Tianjin and neighboring areas and Shaanxi Province started or maintained early warning of heavy pollution weather yellow or above yesterday. The affected cities & regions include Beijing, Tianjin, south-central Hebei, Henan, central and western Shandong, and south-central Shanxi. Shaanxi Guanzhong, eastern Hubei, Jiangsu and other places have moderate haze, among which, southern Beijing, Tianjin, south-central Hebei, southern Shanxi, northern Henan, western Shandong, Shaanxi Guanzhong and other parts of the region have heavy haze.
What is haze?
I believe that many platforms have published popular science articles, editor is no longer detailed introduction.
How terrible is haze?
Let`s take a look at the next few photos!
On the night of January 2, 2017, photographers at Beijing South Station photographed the Harmony high-speed railway, which had just arrived in Beijing from Shanghai.
The high-speed rail, which traversed all the heavy haze areas of East China and North China, has not been washed away by Rain Water along the way, and dust is strewn across the car body. And many people inhale the body every day, is also these things.
The original Harmony number was almost like this.
In severe haze weather, the Harmony high-speed train turned into a "running tea-leaf egg."
No comparison, no harm.
Even the high-speed rail system is like this, not to mention people who have lived in haze for a long time.
Although many people laugh at themselves are "iron lung", "copper stomach" 100 poison no invasion. " But this is a joke, after all, how can flesh and blood resist the haze that engulfs all things?
According to earlier reports in the state-run Xinhua News Agency, smoking rates in China have been declining for more than 30 years, but lung cancer prevalence has more than quadrupled. According to authoritative experts speculated, this has nothing to do with the weather in haze.
It`s no joke that prolonged exposure to haze weather can really have a devastating impact on the health of ordinary people. More and more people have begun to realize this point, we are also looking for their own way out.
Sacrifice everything, escape haze! A few days ago, the paper published an article about haze, leading to this: under the haze, three mothers made different choices for their children, some leaving Beijing for a better air quality south; Some set up anti-haze nets for their children at home; others decided to act with those around them.
One of them described it this way:
"I`m one of the average families, and I can only protect myself." Du Haihong is helpless.
She is a teacher at a college in Baoding, Hebei province, and her daughter is in sixth grade. No matter from the perspective of work or children`s education, she could not imagine moving. Baoding is located between Shijiazhuang and Beijing, and the air quality is in the bottom of the country all the year round. In 1996, when she came here to study at university, her memory was covered with a layer of fog, not knowing if there was haze or not.
"Zhangjiakou is free of fog." Du Haihong talked about his hometown. When I was a child, there was a river in town, big and bright, and water birds. They all went to play by the river after school. This summer, she took her students to Zhangjiakou`s countryside to do research: "the contrast is too big!" Zhangjiakou that blue sky, you look dizzy. Zhangjiakou slope from northwest to southeast, is the northwest of Beijing upwind, heavy pollution enterprises are also very few.
Du Haihong missed the days when he dared to take a deep breath. She couldn`t walk, and she wanted her daughter to go abroad when she was in high school: "go, go as far as you can." After college and work, she also wants her daughter to go where there is no haze, it is not important to earn more or less. She planned not to stay in Baoding after her daughter went to college. She retired early and went somewhere else.
At 4: 00 p.m. on December 21, 2016, she went to pick up her daughter after school and forgot her mask. She always covered her mouth and nose with a sweater collar, even though she knew it was useless. Baoding the air that day, did not wear a mask to make her feel suffocating.
The car parked near the school and waited on the side of the road ahead of time. This is the habit of du Haihong now. School has daylight saving time and winter time, once she remembered wrong time, let the child wait for half an hour, still remember still annoyed: "I feel very guilty in my heart, you know?" How can I let her stay out of the house for so long? "
When her daughter and her two friends got on the bus together, she asked, "is the air purifier in the classroom open today?" "it`s on." Said the daughter. The air purifier is new to the school this year. Due to the weather, PE classes in the fall semester were basically suspended, and the students were all in the classroom. Sunshine Sports also stopped on Tuesday and Friday afternoons. Du Haihong is amused: the National Sunshine Sports Program is designed to allow children to exercise more. But this weather, what do you exercise?
(omitted middle section due to length)
There are many pictures on the wall on the second floor: Guizhou, Hainan, Guilin, Qinhuangdao, Dalian. As long as there is a holiday, she takes the children out, especially in recent years considering where haze is less, so she always runs to the beach. When driving, the car is equipped with tents, moisture-proof mats and other equipment. Take the dog with you every time you go out.
"as soon as they get to the green space, the children and the dog go crazy and have fun." Du Haihong waved his hand to describe the situation at the time. She felt sad. By contrast, my daughter`s childhood was pitiful.
"what`s your favorite place after all that?" The reporter asked du Haihong`s daughter.
"I like it everywhere." She answered.
"there`s always someone who likes it."
"if there is a blue sky, it will be fine."
(quoted above: paperback)
Yeah, a lot of people chose-run.
Many people began to evacuate from the serious first-tier metropolitan areas of haze to small and medium-sized cities with relatively good air quality and even mountain cities. Of course, they also have to pay incalculable costs for this, including jobs, connections, resources, etc.
Retreat is a lost path.
For the average person, once they move out of these first-tier cities, they basically mean that they can`t go back in their lives.
But between health and future, many people have chosen the former unswervingly. Not just for themselves, but for their next generation. After all, governance of haze is not a day or two, it may be 10 years, 30 years, or even 50 years!
This may not be obvious yet, but if the country`s air conditions continue to deteriorate, the situation will be even worse.
Some middle-and high-income groups have chosen to emigrate abroad and stay away from haze completely. Those who are unable to emigrate will send their children abroad to study abroad in preparation for the future.
Where do they emigrate?
9000 millionaires in China chose to emigrate overseas in 2015, according to the Millionaire Migration 2015 survey published by Fortune New World (New World Wealth), a wealth research firm.
Australia has become the most attractive immigrant country for Chinese millionaires, with more than 7000 tycoons choosing to settle in Australia, accounting for about 78% of the total!
Sydney welcomed 4000 millionaires in 2015 and 3000 millionaires chose Melbourne, according to data.
In addition, according to Barclays` September report, nearly half of rich Chinese are considering moving to developed countries over the next five years, the most popular of which remains Australia!
Why Australia?
The United States, Australia, Canada and New Zealand have always been the hottest immigrant countries in the minds of wealthy Chinese. Australia`s environment, security, economy, development prospects and other comprehensive conditions are the best, so it has become the first choice for immigrants.
The surge in Chinese real estate investment in Australia in recent years is also a reflection of this fact.
Today`s article is about haze, so other factors such as security, economy, and so on, just talk about the air quality of the two countries.
Below is a screenshot of the Air quality Index (API) for China and Australia (Sydney) at noon today (Jan. 5) (data from the same website).
It`s Chinese, and almost half of the countries are covered in heavily polluted air.
This is Sydney (PS: Australia has fewer cities, so only the most representative cities are intercepted), a piece of green oil.
More contrastive pictures will not be released, so as not to hurt everyone`s hearts, and feelings.
Although Australia`s overall economy, technology, transportation, and so on, are far behind that of China, many middle-and high-class people prefer to pay a high price and choose to emigrate overseas.
Only one reason is really enough for immigration.
China and Australia air quality competition!
In this year`s Yale University`s latest 2016 Environmental performance Index (EPI (Environmental Performance Index), Australia ranks fifth on the Air quality list, which includes 180 countries in the world.
Despite missing the top three, Australia ranked fifth in the world with an ultra-high score of 96.13. As one of the world`s economic powerhouses, automobile exhaust and industrial emissions cannot be avoided, and it is not easy to get ahead of them.
According to the research experts of the EPI report, the assessment of air quality in a country should be considered in four ways:
Average concentration of nitrogen dioxide in a country
The average PM2.5 index of exposure to air in a country
Indoor air quality (use of indoor solid fuels, such as coal, traditional solid biofuel stalks, etc.)
PM2.5 index exceeding standard condition
Australia has no pressure on two PM2.5 indicators, 98.88 and 100, respectively! Only "nitrogen dioxide concentration average" is below 90 points, is 72.17 points.
And China`s air quality once again sounded the red alarm!
China scored 15.29, 2.256, 72 and 0 in the four indexes respectively. Based on the above-mentioned four assessment indexes, China`s overall score in the air quality table was 23.81.
The world ranked second to the bottom, narrowly surpassing Bangladesh.
Air quality is not a joke!
The World Health Organization (WHO) says 90 percent of the world`s people breathe very badly, with 6 million people dying from air pollution every year.
According to World Health Organization standards, PM2.5 levels in excess of 10 micrograms per cubic meter are considered non-compliant.
By this standard, 92% of the world`s population lives in substandard air.
"for a person to live a healthy life is to breathe pure air from life to death," said Flavia Bustreo, chief assistant at the World Health Organization.
It can be seen that the quality of air quality is really a matter of life and death!
Can you still look at it with a complaining attitude?
Editor`s conclusion
Haze, is not a specialty in China.
In the last century, many Western countries have suffered what China is going through today, and the situation may be even worse.
One night in 1952, there was a heavy, poisonous fog in London, England.
In the next few days, a large number of Londoners died suddenly, leading to about 4000 premature deaths. According to the final report, the death toll from the fog in London exceeded 12, 000!
Since then, the UK`s goverment has put in place a number of laws and regulations to tackle air quality problems. After decades of hard work, London has returned to a habitable state.
It can be seen that, as long as they are willing to work hard, there is no haze that cannot be lost.
The haze is terrible, but more terrible is not.
The poison fog incident in London is a lesson in the hope that such a tragedy will not fall anywhere again.
While everything is still in time, action, but also a blue sky.
