Pollution levels in Beijing reach orange alert

The concentration of PM2.5 – microscopic airborne particles linked to cancer and heart disease – hit 634 micrograms per cubic metre, a reading given by the US Embassy here that is more than 25 times the maximum recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO). “I felt like my lungs were blocked”, Xu Pengfei, a security guard in downtown Beijing, told the news agency. “Most Chinese are very happy to see that China’s contributing to what is being recognized as a really worldwide crisis that must be addressed” even though most Chinese, he says, don’t recognize that climate change affects them personally.

Layers of thick haze reduced visibility across the city of 20 million residents to merely several hundred meters (yards) and left a bitter odor, forcing people to resort to wearing face masks outdoors.

Persistent pollution prompted the authorities to issue the year’s first orange pollution alert – the second highest in the four-tier system – on Sunday. On Sunday, pollution readings were as high as 17 times the level that the World Health Organization considers safe for breathing.

China’s cities, following decades of economic growth and a widespread surge in vehicle ownership, rate among the world’s dirtiest urban areas.

Most of the pollution comes from burning coal – which supplies about 65 percent of China’s energy needs.

The round of air pollution that began last week is the heaviest of 2015, the Beijing environmental protection bureau said on its official microblog Tuesday.

Beijing has vowed to clean up its notoriously foul air and had been doing fairly well prior to the latest stretch of pollution, with generally cleaner air than in 2014. “If a government can’t guarantee water, food or air, it won’t stop people seeking a better life outside”.

But the government has yet to issue any official warnings and thirty thousand half marathon runners struggled through this weekend, when pollutions levels were just as high.

The pollution also closed motorways around the Chinese capital and caused scores of flights to be cancelled.

The smog will continue in most parts of north China on Tuesday and Wednesday, the National Meteorological Center (NMC) forecasted.

It is expected that strong cold air moving from west to east will blow away the air pollutants in the capital and neighboring regions on December 2.