Beijing High Pollution Leads to Red Alert Warnings

Schools closed and rush-hour roads were much quieter than normal as Beijing invoked its first-ever red alert for smog Tuesday, closing many factories and imposing restrictions to keep half the city’s vehicles off the roads. He is now on steroids, as am I and my 14-year-old daughter, Eva.

A auto paint workshop in downtown Beijing was sealed up on Tuesday by the city’s environment protection agency after it received reports of its illegal operation from the public.

Even so, Channel NewsAsia reported on Tuesday than many residents were ignoring warnings and going about their regular business. “Even when wearing the mask, I feel uncomfortable and don’t have any energy”. During this period of time, schools will be required by law to close, while cars will only be allowed on the road on alternate days, depending on their license plates.

It is expected to disperse on Thursday afternoon as a cold front arrives. “How could they not issue a red alert then and issue a red alert now?”

It was the first time for Beijing authorities to declare a “red alert” since emergency air pollution plans were introduced two years ago, although levels were far from the city’s worst.

A Beijing resident surnamed Li said the current smog wasn’t as strong as last week’s “airpocalypse”, however, when a yellow alert was issued. The World Health Organization designates the safe level for the tiny, poisonous particles at 25.

Smog has been a public health concern in Beijing for years but the government’s response has come under extra scrutiny in the past week because it faced heavy criticism for not issuing a red alert during an earlier episode of hazardous smog.

The problem with air pollution affecting schools is not limited to China, however. Authorities have announced a few measures to tackle pollution, but many believe it is a case of too little.

There previously have been stretches of severe smog in Beijing that lasted more than three days. The group called for the city to raise its orange alert to red in the midst of a four-day pollution spike they referred to as “Airpocalypse”.

Any score above 300 is considered “severely polluted”, according to China Real Time. A study led by atmospheric chemist Jos Lelieveld, of Germany’s Max Planck Institute, published this year in Nature magazine, estimated that 1.4 million people each year die prematurely because of pollution in China.

Beijing made global headlines during the December Paris climate change talks when its air quality went off most scales with a PM2.5 reading of 678 near Tiananmen Square.

Mr Fruit, a fruit juice stand in the lobby of a Beijing office building, offered 12 percent off pear and pomegranate juice, which traditional Chinese medicine says can moisten the lungs and reduce phlegm.