Record-breaking levels of air pollution in northeastern China, particularly in Beijing, appear to have spurred the government to undertake a major program to boost renewable energy programs across the country.
Record smog is estimated to have caused 8,000 premature deaths in four Chinese cities in 2012, according to research by Peking University - twice as many deaths as occurred in the so-called “Big Smoke” of 1952 that revolutionized the UK’s approach to the environment and the outlawing of coal for heating in London.
The World Health Organization considers concentrations of the 25 most dangerous particulates per cubic meter of smog to be hazardous. On Jan. 12, these particulates peaked at 993 per square meter in Beijing - nearly 40 times the hazard limit. A cardiologist in Beijing said the pollution had doubled admissions for heart attacks over that weekend.
Pollution is said to have led to at least US$1 billion in economic losses, a figure that seems inadequate. Seven of the world’s 10 most polluted cities are in China, according to a report by the Asian Development Bank, with Shijiazhuang, in Hebei Province, said to be the country’s most polluted city, and probably the world’s.
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