The Red Zone: Why Beijing's Air Pollution Crisis is More Complicated than You Think

Abstract

The air pollution crisis in Beijing is an immediately pressing issue, as particulate concentrations have reached unprecedented levels and photographs of a smog-filled city with masked citizens fill international news. As the world's biggest source of carbon emissions, China is under domestic pressure from its populace to counter air pollution as it poses not only health risks to its citizens, but also grave long-term environmental threats. But the issue of air pollution in Beijing is much more complicated than media often portrays. Beijing is particularly susceptible to adverse atmospheric conditions both due to its rapid urbanization and the geography of the area. The national and municipal government have enacted policies in order to combat air pollution, including restrictions on vehicle and industrial emissions and carbon trading. But there are many challenges to address given the multi-faceted nature of the crisis. In light of the recent policies and scientific contributions, Beijing could go one step further in attempting to decrease pollution through implementing driver taxes, expanding and diversifying urban forests, and investing in alternative energy, particularly wind power. However, even such advanced preventative measures are met with their own obstacles given the constraints of urban infrastructure. Beijing’s air pollution poses a health risk to the people who live there. Such particulate air pollution combines liquid droplets in the atmosphere with a number of components, including acids like nitrates and sulfates, organic chemicals, metals, and soil or dust particles, which can be harmful to those who inhale it. There is a significant exposure-response relationship between maternal exposures to sulfur dioxide and total suspended particles during the third trimester of pregnancy and infant birth weight. The data suggests that total suspended particles and sulfur dioxide, or a more complex pollution mixture associated with these pollutants, contribute to an excess risk of low birth weight in the Beijing population (Wang et al., 1997) There are also negative health effects regarding respiratory and cardiovascular issues, amongst others, as the annual numbers of mortality and morbidity increase significantly in the presence of PM10 pollution in the urban areas. Moreover, the chronic effects of long-term exposure could take years to develop cannot be fully quantified in such studies (Zhang, 2007). Health complications are also accompanied by economic costs as well as productivity decreases and