Swept up by the wind..

Looking outside my window I see a classic winter, windy, London scene. Trees are bare, branches swaying, misty low clouds and raindrops on my window. What I don't expect to see is an orange Supermarket bag attached on to one of the branches. With squirrels and birds frequently seen bouncing on these branches I'm concerned about what happens to all these cute little furry animals when they mistake it for food. Maybe because its orange they won't be tricked.. but what if it was white.. or black? They don't know any better....

So why do people just leave rubbish on the floor? Why don't they close their bin bags properly? Should stray plastic bags (or any rubbish for that matter) really be able to just be lifted into the air and straight into the mouth of an innocent creature? 

LETS CLEAN IT UP PEOPLE!

Oh Beijing, where art though?

Figure 1: Beijing; A city where "the air tastes like coal dust and car fumes" (BBC, 2013).

It is well known that Beijing is one of the most polluted places on the planet. There has been a long term association with people wearing paper face masks to protect themselves from the air-borne pollutants which are becoming more common than Oxygen itself. Even with all its well known tourist attractions (forbidden city and the Great Wall of China are only 2 of hundreds), people are losing inclanation to travel to this ancient city because of the health concerns. 

With a population of 19.6 million in 2010, it is one of the most densely populated cities in the world! No wonder its pollution levels are reaching "hazardous levels" (BBC, 2013) With 19 million people requiring heating in the winter and cooling in the summer, cars or public transport to get to work and food in manufactured packaging, of course pollutant emissions are dramatically high. The problem is that it is now affecting the health of millions of people

Research by Sun et al, 2006, has shown the the majority of air-borne pollution in Beijing is sourced from coal and traffic. However, it also presents the issue of how Beijing is found downwind of the majority of Asian dust sources. This dust is a major contributor to the low visibility (seen in Figure 1) and can have lethal impacts on human lives. Therefore, it is unfortunate that even if all emissions were eliminated, Beijing would still suffer the consequences from nearby dust sources. 

Telling kids to stay inside for their health is no way for them to grow up. Being able to play outside in open air is a part of childhood. Great efforts have been made however to make sure children (and adults) have somewhere to play sports and run around (The Guardian, 2014). Big bubbles of clean air are being constructed in schools which enable children to play all sports they would normally play outside.

Nevertheless, encouraging developments have been made in lowering emissions, to achieve a more inhabitable atmosphere. Smog levels have been recorded to have slightly dropped in 2014 (Yahoo, 2015). To achieve this the government had to take drastic measures, including shutting down factories, and restricting coal use. These could have impacted the economy of the city quite dramatically, so it is admirable that the government took such a big risk for the health of it's citizens.
The revelation that pollution has decreased in Beijing after these measures were implemented could make a huge difference from now on. It is solid, encouraging, proof, that mitigations strategies  are effective.