Chinese pollution like ‘nuclear winter’
Chinese scientists have offered a stark warning that toxic air pollution in the country, which is starting to take the form of a dense smog, is so extreme that it resembles a nuclear winter, and that it will slow down photosynthesis in plants, potentially devastating China’s food supplies. The end of February saw a particularly bad swathe of smog affecting Beijing and a number of Northern provinces, and according to analysts, the concentration of P.M 2.5 particles in Beijing – these are the particles tiny enough to penetrate the lungs and enter the bloodstream – reached 505 micrograms per cubic metre. The safe level recommended by the World Health Organization is 25.
The deteriorating conditions in China have already taken an economic toll, with flights grounded and highways closed, resulting in many tourists staying at home; 24 February saw only 11,200 people visit the Forbidden City in Beijing, barely a quarter of the average daily draw for the attraction. A report from the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences has described Beijing’s pollution as making the city ‘uninhabitable for human beings’, and while the Chinese government has previously promised to address the issue, enforcement has reportedly been ‘patchy’ at best.