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Published: October 22nd 2013
Look at the sun
It might be a bad pollution day when you can look directly at the sun.Since before we left, friends and family have asked "How is the air quality in Beijing?" We read blogs, articles and looked at weather reports to find out. In fact, prior to leaving, we sent an email to the principal of our school asking about the air quality and whether or not we should bring an air purifier with us. She said "No, don't worry about it. The weather in Beijing is great!" A little suspicious, but overwhelmed with all kinds of other details, we skipped the purifier and left Brattleboro for Beijing.
Basically, the air quality is terrible, though not every day. We have been lucky to have several very sunny and clear days while we have been here and like anywhere, when you have those, you can appreciate the gray days for the quiet and introspection that they bring. It is weird though that on or after those gray days, nothing is ever produced. It rarely rains or snows in Beijing because the precipitation can't penetrate the smog. The gray doesn't escalate into anything more - no big storms, no dramatic inconveniences. In fact, things can become quite dry due to the pollution, as well as the Gobi
However...
On this day, you can't even see the sun or the buildings about a block away. desert so the Chinese Weather Modification Office might decide to make it rain. Perhaps you heard about these surreal maneuvers around the time of the Beijing Olympics in 2008.
As many expats do, we occasionally look at the air quality index through the US Embassy. The past few days, we have been on "red alert." This means "Significant aggravation of heart or lung disease and premature mortality in persons with cardiopulmonary disease and the elderly; significant increase in respiratory effects in general population." The actions recommend include "People with heart or lunch disease, older adults and children should avoid all physical activity outdoors. Everyone else should avoid prolonged or heavy exertion." The pollution has been pretty bad and we have mostly stayed indoors. When I walked to school yesterday, I wore a mask. I have had a cold that started as a runny nose but quickly escalated into a bad cough. Are my lungs already in rough shape from cat allergy asthma? Is the pollution making it worse? Who really knows. Kendall got me some traditional Chinese cough medicine and I rested in bed. I am feeling better but the cough persists.
The other problem in regards to
Just outside the city
A beautiful and clear day at a wine castle with my friend Vicky! taking clean and clear breaths is the level of smoking in Beijing. There are so many people here and so many of them smoke! It's often hard to escape. Riding or walking down the street you encounter it. In restaurants, bars and even shops you encounter it. Our friend Shawn gave us free passes to the gym. He said he likes going there because they filter the air and its nice. When we walked in however, I smelled cigarettes and saw that in the top of the trash cans there were ash trays with butts in them! At the gym?!
We don't want everyone to think life is terrible here, but on a basic level, there sure are some struggles. Most of the time, however, we are truly enjoying our adventure. Upon reflection, one upside is that we can be thankful for the clean air we enjoy in not only in Brattleboro, but larger cities like Boston and NYC. Also, we can perhaps watch an even bigger city figure out how to deal with growth, resources and pollution in a positive way.
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shannonandkendall
Shannon Lamb
If you are curious....
You can check the levels here: http://www.stateair.net/web/post/1/1.html the levels are defined beneath the graph. Today it is "moderate" which is quite good!