Air pollution in China can no longer be ignored
January 15, 2013
Even though many of the state-run news media companies have showed China with clear blue skies, it is far from the reality. Now, the country will be forced to do something about the heavy smog that has settled on some of China's most important cities, according to NBC News.
The People's Daily recently ran two articles that talked about the pollution problem in China, detailing the extent of the issues. China Central Television News Channel also talked about the issues, reporting that air pollution has reached "critical levels" in 67 cities across the country, according to the publication.
Now that the news is out there, state-run media is also publishing statistics given by environmental groups such as Greenpeace, which stated that 2,500 people in Beijing likely died early as a result of the pollution in 2012. In addition, it is estimated that 8,000 died early in 2012 in four of the biggest cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Xian, the media outlet reports.
Even though much of the news is negative, the focus has caused a celebration among environmentalists, who have been pushing for this problem to be recognized for quite some time. Recent government involvement marks a first time in decades that it has decided to put environmental conservation over economical gains, according to the publication.
"I'm kind of telling myself it's great that the air pollution reached this level so that the people and the government can finally pay attention," Li Bo, a board member of non-profit group Friends of Nature, told the news source.
Those who want to talk about the pollution problem and discuss possible solutions can make calls to China using international calling cards to save on phone costs.