Hong Kong 's Air Pollution Problems

As the exploration of the industrial development and increased speed of the urban sprawl in Beijing, many severe environmental issues attribute mainly to the anthropocentric activities have been come out of the scene. One of them is the air pollution. Air pollution has been regarded as the most severe environment issue in China since it has already threatened to physical health, especially for the respiratory tract and lung. “In January 2013, Beijing experienced historical heavy air pollution. In this particular month, very few days were observed with blue sky.” (Lijian Han et.al., 2015) According to the analysis of the driving factors, “the population grew fast, and energy consumption and the number of vehicles increased rapidly” (Ju Zhang et.al., 2010), these factors add together can make the air quality worse than any one of them separately can. Firstly, it has been an undoubted truth that more and more people originally lived in rural has been moved to core urban of Beijing since there are more opportunities in there. Therefore, the huge explosion of urban population with more energy release and more CO2 exhalation is seen as an inevitably primary factor causing the bad air quality. What’s more, as the population

Air pollution by definition, is the presence in or introduction into the air of a substance which has harmful or poisonous effects. Beijing is a major Chinese city that endures air pollution significantly. A study on the global burden of disease found that outdoor air pollution contributed to 1.2 million premature deaths in China each year (Chemical & Engineering News,2017). As China is the world's second largest economy behind the United States, it is most definitely under the influence of globalization. Globalization causes industrialization, a process that will inevitably create pollution.70% of air pollution in China is from the tailpipes of automobiles (Conserve Energy Future, 2017). Thus, the introduction of advanced transportation brought by globalization has adversely affected China's atmosphere.

According to the EPA pollution recommendations, when a city reaches an air quality index (AQI) of over 400, all people should avoid going outdoors. Beijing’s highest AQI is 895. This impacts the daily lives of Beijing citizens immensely. Air pollution has been related to increased cases of cancer, heart disease, stroke and other respiratory illnesses. It is also associated with asthma in children.

In the past decade, the severe air pollution problem in fast developing countries, particularly in China, has caused highly social and scientific attention. In 2014, 92 % of the world population are exposed over to the WHO Air Quality Guidelines (AQG) PM2.5 concentration level of 10 μg/m3 (World Health Organization, 2016). Ambient particulate matter (PM) pollution ranked as the third leading risk factor in India and Nepal, and ranked as the fifth in China (GBD 2015 Risk Factors Collaborators, 2016). In 2012, about 3 million deaths globally were attributed solely to ambient air pollution, and around 87% of it occurred in low- and middle-income countries (World Health Organization, 2016).

Although thought to be “not a big problem” and “under control” by most people, pollution is making its way in being a serious and an unforgiving threat to society. Pollution a topic everyone hears and knows exists. What they don’t know is how serious of a problem it is already becoming. Many health issues are being reported now that are linked to air pollution and even the most severe weather places have encountered are linked to air pollution also. By society, not fully being aware of the true threat that pollution is making, it will only become a growing threat that they will be encountering.

In the article, “The Filth They Breath in China,” author, Michael Auslin, discusses the health concerns that citizens in China are forced to face, and how the country put itself in that position. China positioned the importance of its economic success, above the health of its people. The air quality has reached a state where people are urged to stay inside in order to avoid the dense smog. Also, industries have dumped an immense amount of waste into water sources, causing them to be unsafe for public use. These extreme living conditions should catch the eye of those living in the United States, in order to prevent the same from happening to them.

The population growth in Beijing contributes to a big portion of its pollution. The population has risen from 11 million to 16 million in just 7 years, and has nearly doubled over the past century. Factories that utilize coal burning contribute to the smog currently present in Beijing. Many of these factories depend on outdated and inefficient technology which emits air pollutants. Beijing is a victim of its own topography since it's surrounded by mountains which traps pollution within the city. Air quality worsens in the spring and summer seasons when the humidity and temperature levels increase. Air pollution has been so drastic to the point that the city often engulfs in smog making it near zero visibility which in turn causing road

A Ghanaian and founder of Smart Youth Volunteers Foundation, Lailah Gifty Akita said “Laziness has made our cities unclean. If we begin to work and act appropriately, we will clean our cities of any dirt.” People’s self-centered personality had caused the pollution, and if people think more about the city and implicate to help then people can get rid of the pollution. So, as the city that suffers from one of the most serious pollutions, Beijing air quality is a getting worse every year because of the dearth of citizen support. Also, Beijing population is increasing and as people increase so do the number of cars. Unfortunately, the amount of trees shrinks, and the Beijing government cannot reduce the use of coal that is unnecessary. Consequently, Beijing suffers from air pollution as a result of high population density, commercial use of coal, and lack of citizen involvement.

16 of the top 20 air polluted cities are located in China; this is due to rapid development in many what were rural areas of China. A massive 30% of china suffers from acid rain, also because air quality is so poor, 400,000 premature deaths from air polluted causes in 2003. Leaking water pipes contaminated drinking water, which caused illness throughout China; resulting in 70% rivers/lakes are polluted.

When people talk about the most polluted place in the world the first word that pops up in their head is China. China has had many problems with pollution, to the point where it is now effecting the populations health. Pollution in China has become so bad that 1.1 million people are estimated to have died because of it. The skies of China are no longer blue and are hovered by grey clouds of pollution. Even though China’s coal burning and heavy industry has brought many people out of poverty, it’s at the cost of their health. This leaves many people poisoned water making it undrinkable and food that is not edible.

· Each year, an estimated 178,000 Chinese in major cities suffer premature deaths because of atmospheric pollution in excess of standards. Also, acid rain from high sulfur regions heavily damages the environment each year to crops and forests

The environmental pollution, especially air pollution has always been a concern in China, a documentary ‘Under the Dome’ produced in February 28, 2015 by former China Central Television well-known journalist, Chai Jing. The release of this film brings environmental issues in China to a new height. This film deeply investigated the air pollution in different cities in China, combined footages of her interview with authorities who worked in the government, environment specialities and business owners, as well as some shocking data in terms of the air quality in China. All the information in the film indicated one brutal truth that China is losing its war dealing with air pollution (See Appendix B).

Hong Kong (HK) is one of the most crowded cities in the world, with almost the highest vehicle density. It has long been criticized for its bad air quality compared to its advanced economy. With the recently hazardous air pollution in China mainland, HK has been affected as well for its geographic neighborhood. The Air quality readings recently (PM2.5: 60µg/m³) have exceeded the loose local standard (50µg/m³), 3 times of WHO’s recommended standards (20µg/m³). The public appeals to the government to take actions to improve air quality.

Since last century, air pollution has become one of the most popular topics related to people’s healthy life. After the Second World War, the consumption of fossil energy increase sharply due to the rapid development of industry and transportation, however, there almost no relevant environmental regulations to control the negative effects caused by industrial emissions. Therefore, air pollution became a growing problem. This paper will compare the conditions of air pollution between Los Angeles and Beijing, and discuss both reason and measures of their pollution.

Problem of air quality in Hong Kong is serious so we need to try our best to solve it. Three are two main reasons that causing