Environmental Issues Homepage
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Beijing Air Pollution - Beijing, China is now the air pollution capital of the world. I recall waking up on my first trip to Beijing, looking out my window, and thinking that I was so jetlagged that I had slept the entire day away. My watch disagreed and I discovered that it was in fact 10:00 in the morning. The smog was so thick that twilight like conditions prevailed during the day. The citizens of Beijing are environmental victims of China's spectacular economic growth. Soaring levels of air pollution in China are blamed for more than 400,000 premature deaths a year (mostly from lung and heart-related diseases). Nitrogen dioxide contributes to the toxic soup of atmospheric pollutants and can cause fatal damage to the lungs. In the wake of China's economic development comes environmental devastation - the likes of which is unparalleled in the history of industrialization. I believe that eventually environmental shortsightedness will catch up with China. For every economic step forward China will have to face an environmental crises that will solidly stymie its development. The World Bank reports that China is home to 16 of the Earth's 20 most air polluted cities. Air pollution over China has increased by approximately 50% during the past 10 years and fears abound that without proper air quality laws those levels could more than quadruple within 15 years. China's must balance its great potential to be an industrialized world leader with looming environmental collapse.