China-India Smog Rivalry a Sign of Global Menace
Angel Hsu and Jason Schwartz
Scientific American
March 26, 2014
Full article: http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/2014/03/26/china-india-smog-rivalry-a-sign-of-global-menace/
Topic: Air Pollution
Summary:
People in the past would usually think that China is the smoggiest country, but now they are starting to debate whether India have more air pollution than China or vice-versa. According to research done by Yale and Columbia universities, India and China’s EPI or Environmental Performance Index came out to be a tie, and that “nearly the entire population of both countries is exposed to harmful particulate matter less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter, known as PM2.5”. The amount of particulate matter they are exposed to is “250 percent higher than that threshold deemed “safe” by the WHO”. But nowadays, China have been trying to improve their air quality, and they made this issue more popular for their citizens to become more aware.
Reflection:
I think that China seem to care more about their air quality now that they know how bad it is. They have more monitoring stations than India, and more people are going online to search “air quality” in China. I am kind of surprise how they have more regulations and the people are more aware of this situation in Beijing than in New Delhi, even though there are more people in New Delhi. There are even more days where the AQI is considered as excellent in Beijing than in New Delhi. Now that we know about the two smoggiest countries, we can come up with solutions to reduce the amount of smog in those areas. Through education, people will be more aware of this issue and hopefully will take actions. I believe that the people in New Delhi should live more like the people in Beijing because the people in Beijing is really trying their best to reduce the amount of air pollution in their city.
Angel Hsu and Jason Schwartz
Scientific American
March 26, 2014
Full article: http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/2014/03/26/china-india-smog-rivalry-a-sign-of-global-menace/
Topic: Air Pollution
Summary:
People in the past would usually think that China is the smoggiest country, but now they are starting to debate whether India have more air pollution than China or vice-versa. According to research done by Yale and Columbia universities, India and China’s EPI or Environmental Performance Index came out to be a tie, and that “nearly the entire population of both countries is exposed to harmful particulate matter less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter, known as PM2.5”. The amount of particulate matter they are exposed to is “250 percent higher than that threshold deemed “safe” by the WHO”. But nowadays, China have been trying to improve their air quality, and they made this issue more popular for their citizens to become more aware.
Reflection:
I think that China seem to care more about their air quality now that they know how bad it is. They have more monitoring stations than India, and more people are going online to search “air quality” in China. I am kind of surprise how they have more regulations and the people are more aware of this situation in Beijing than in New Delhi, even though there are more people in New Delhi. There are even more days where the AQI is considered as excellent in Beijing than in New Delhi. Now that we know about the two smoggiest countries, we can come up with solutions to reduce the amount of smog in those areas. Through education, people will be more aware of this issue and hopefully will take actions. I believe that the people in New Delhi should live more like the people in Beijing because the people in Beijing is really trying their best to reduce the amount of air pollution in their city.