Beijing Issues First Ever Red Alert For Pollution Levels

Beijing issued its first-ever red alert for smog yesterday, urging schools to close and invoking restrictions on factories and traffic that will keep half of the city’s vehicles off the roads.

China’s leadership has vowed to crack down on environmental degradation, including the air pollution that blankets many major cities, following decades of unbridled economic growth.

“The red alert is a welcome sign of a different attitude from the Beijing government”, said Dong Liansai, climate and energy campaigner for environmental group Greenpeace.

Heavy trucks were banned, while private vehicle use was limited to odd or even license plate numbers on alternate days, state news agency Xinhua reported.

Beijing office worker Cao Yong said during a break from work told the AP that the poor quality of the air was “modern life for Beijing people”, adding, “we wanted to develop, and now we pay the price”.

According to the Beijing Municipal Severe Air Pollution Emergency Plan which took effect in March, the municipal government can issue a red alert when severe air pollution is forecast to extend for more than three days, the orange alert for three days, the yellow alert for two days and the blue alert for one day.

The red alert is the first time Beijing reached the highest level since the monitoring system was launched in 2013.

The US embassy recorded an air quality index reading of 283, which means a “very unhealthy” pollution level.

“We had really serious smog about a week ago, but they didn’t issue a red alert then [while he was in Paris]”, Fang said.

On Monday evening PM2.5 levels were 206 micrograms per cubic metre according to the U.S. embassy, and 187 according to local authorities. Most of the smog is blamed on coal-fired power plants, along with vehicle emissions, construction and factory work.

“I stay outdoors most of the time, so I am very anxious that I may have cancer if I continue to live in this kind of air for long time”, said Zhang, 25.

Fang said there is widespread public anger over the smog, but that it is rarely expressed owing to strong controls on freedom of expression.

“I think it’s wrong to simply think we have to get used to living with bad air quality and not demand that more is done to solve the problem”.

The polluted air shrouding China has had severe impact on the health of people. 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. On the map, a gray cloud hangs over a big chunk of China, and several other cities in India fall into the “extreme pollution” category.

China’s smog endemic is at its worst in the winter when an increased amount of greenhouse gas emissions come from the burning of coal for electricity and heating.