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China’s renowned air pollution problem has mainly been contributed to urban development and is seen as a serious problem within China, but is this environmental problem highlighted out of context or is China’s urban air pollution in fact ‘bad’?
Costabile et al 2008 in environmental modelling and software, and Ho et al 2007 in clearing the air, attribute urban air pollution to numerous factors including road transport and coal burning which have impacts on human health and urban environmental quality. In Ho et al 2007, in Clearing the air, it is stated that these factors contributing to the urban air pollution have resulted in Chinas high urban concentrations of sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxide ranking at, or near the top of the international league table. This high air pollution is shown within the graph by L’autier.
A graph of urban air pollution with reference to the WHO guideline L’autier 2003 www1.worldbank.org/.../leautier-charts2.gif
From looking at L’autier’s graph it can be seen that China’s monitored levels of urban air pollution is approximately 250 ug/m3 higher than the WHO guideline and approximately 200 ug/m3 higher than the worlds monitored levels of pollution, therefore indicating that China’s urban air pollution is ‘bad’. 
A map of the deaths/million globally as a result on air pollution in 2000
Davis 2007.www.earthtrends.wri.org/images/air_pollution_map_...
A table of the predicted annual deaths as a result or urban air pollution
World watch institute (2005) www.worldwatch.org/.../2005_air_pollution.jpg
This high urban air pollution is also reflected within the annual death tolls as a result of the urban air pollutants. It can be seen in the world watch table that china has the highest amount of deaths globally annually between 200 and 230 deaths/million resulting from air pollution leading to an approximated total of 590,000 annual deaths between 2001 and 2020.
From the graphs, tables, maps and articles it can therefore be said that china definitely has a bad urban air pollution problem. In fact the air pollution problem is not just ‘bad’ it is globally the highest, and if China wants this status to be lifted from the country, more drastic measures need to be undertaken to reduce the pollution.
References:
Costabile. F., and Allegrini. I. (2008) A new approach to link transport emissions and air quality: an intelligent transport system based on the control of traffic air pollution. Environmental modelling and software. 23. 258-287.
Davis. C. (2007) Pollution and human health. Avaliable at earthtrends.wri.org/images/air_pollution_map_.... Visited 27th February 2008.
Ho. M. S. and Nielsen. C. P. (2007) Clearing the air: The health and economic damages of air pollution in China. 1st edition. The MIT press.
L’autier. F. A. L. (2003). Urban Air Pollution Management. Avalibel at; www.worldbank.org/.../leautier-charts2.gif. Visited 27th February 2008
Worldwatch institute. (2005) Coal, China, and India: A Deadly Combination for Air Pollution?
Avaliable at; www.worldwatch.org/.../2005_air_pollution.jpg. Visited 27th February 2008
As previously discussed within previous blog entries, numerous activities are continually adding to China’s air pollution problem, but what are these pollutants resulting in?
http://www.lenntech.com/FAQ-air-pollution.htm
From this table it can be seen that the six main pollutants adding to the ever increasing air pollution all together result in smog, acidification, eutrophication and add to climate change.
Additionally some of the pollutants have more affects than other pollutants, e.g. NOx affects photochemical smog, acidification, eutrophication and climate change, compared to SO2 which only has affects on winter smog and acidification.
As well as affecting the environment, the air pollution affects have major affects on the population, as numerous health problems, mainly respiratory, and premature deaths result from the pollution problem of smog. For example Pope et al (2002) states that air pollution mainly results in cardiopulmonary and lung cancer mortality.
It can therefore be argued that air pollution causes numerous problems which in turn have additional consequences to both humans and the environment, e.g. the pollutants cause smog and smog causes health problems. So if China wants effects to be reduced, the decrease of initial emissions are the best place to start.
References:
lenntech.com/FAQ-air-pollution.htm. What the pollutants cause. www.lenntech.com/FAQ-air-pollution.htm. Viewed 19th February 2008.
Pope. C., Burnett. R. T., Thun. M. J., Calle. E. E., Krewski. D., Ito. K., and Thurston. G. D. (2002). Lung Cancer, Cardiopulmonary Mortality, and Long-term Exposure to Fine Particulate Air Pollution. The Journal of the American Medical Association. 287. 1132 – 1141.
It is common knowledge that China has an air pollution problem but what are the causes of this pollution? The air pollution, which can be biological, chemical or physical, is a result of numerous factors surrounding China’s development which has resulted in an increased population and added pressures on industry and transport.
A pie graph from China Daily used in http://blog.strategy4china.com/?cat=5 to illustrate the major causes of Beijings air pollution.
From the pie chart it can be seen that in Beijing the highest contributor to causing air pollution is car emissions, with dust and dirt, industrial emissions and energy consumption also adding to the problem.
Car emissions are the highest contributor to air pollution as a result of increased population and demand for transport. Over the last 15 years, car use has doubled from 16 million to 32 million and car emissions contributed carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, small dust particles and VOC to the ever increasing air pollution.
Another result of China’s development is the need for energy and electricity which is generated through the burning of coal and contributes to 20% of Beijing’s air pollution causes. Additionally from the earthtrends pie chart it can be seen that 74.2% of China’s power is obtained from coal China burns half of the world’s coal within all of its industries, resulting in high emission of sulphur dioxide.
