Gas Masks Out Everybody!
Nope -- we are not in a war. But Beijing's atrocious weather, with fog and haze no less, has meant that the pollution index is now at a new high these days: Grade IV (1) means that there are a lot of pollutants. So maybe no gas masks -- but a face mask would do very well. By the way, today's weather was more than miserable: my Twitter note summarized it perfectly.
The big thing in the air is that PM10. They can be breathed in and can corrupt many a body if intake is excessive. We return, of course, to the feared days of SARS, where even dogs got a kouzhao (I think -- I've seen pics of them poor canines on the Web back in the days).
A way out of this is to drink tea -- HOT! Grade IV (1) pollution is especially bad news for the elderly and the very young. Keep 'em at home -- and away from the polluted outside world out there!
Comments Add a public comment
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"Good" air is anything at level II or better (that would also include level I). As with just about anything, government info anywhere needs to be taken with a grain of salt.
The pollution level yesterday, though, WAS nasty. So I in essence bought the Level IV (1) evaluation. If they said it was Level II I would have thought they were WAY too optimistic to be realistic..!
Wrong info is often worse than no info. But then again, some info is often better than no info. (I know, it's like a snake biting its tail...)
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I agree that u have 2 be careful w/ gov info. in general, but when there is no independent oversight or scrutiny, it seems extra suspicious. how do we know that the pollution in BJ isn't always much higher than reported?
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Hmm... good point. The acid test is the sky itself. Look up into that great big sky out there -- and ask yourself -- is this a "good air day" or "bad air day"? I guess these guys can't probably get away by reporting a day full of haze and smog as a "grade I clean air day"...!
We'll probably have to make do with the gov stats with a good grain of salt until there's like an independent organization chasing them on those stats. When that gets created, though, is anyone's guess...
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Regardless, everyone should buy one of these Respro Masks.
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"Gift wrap available." Hmm. One with Beijing characteristics? Do we also have a Chinese manual or is this thing straightforward?...
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only slightly related: I was at the demolition party at the Red T (in 798) on Saturday where we we spray painting the whole of the interior (and getting high off the fumes). I made a video of the event... I'd be curious to know if anyone knows where the average beijinger can purchase a quality gas mask ;)
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What are bad or good levels of pollution? How do you know the difference? How does it compare to other polluted cities. All I can find is this link to the pollution in China. It's probably all fake info. anyways. Do you trust the gov about air quality reports?! http://english.sepa.gov.cn/