Musings on airpocalypse
Well, when China makes international news, it's time to get blogging again. So Monday evening, the Wechat group of the foreign language department at CUEB was on fire. In chinese. I couldn't translate as fast as they were messaging. What was going on? I tried to interpret the poorly translated texts. School is closed? The subway is shutting down? A red alert? I'm confused! Should I be evacuating myself? Is this the Airpocalypse for real?
I didn't think it could ever be as bad as it was last Tuesday, when the pollution AQI index skyrocketed over 600 for a good chunk of the day. (see photos below. Well, see how you can't 'see' I suppose).
But the AQI was only (only!) hovering around 280. I didn't understand. And i really wished I spoke Chinese. So I started reaching out, trying to get to the bottom of this all. Apparently, primary and secondary schools in all of Beijing will be closed from Tuesday until Friday due to this pollution red alert. Why it's never been red before I don't know!
Articles started popping up in the news. NY times The Independent BBC
Meanwhile, I am bombarded with messages and emails from loving friends and family back in the States. "Are you ok?" "This looks serious?" "Should you get out?" "I can't believe you are there. Is it so bad?" My responses, "It's pretty normal. No big deal...."
But...but.... last week was so much worse! What is happening? Many of us Beijinger ex pats spent much of Monday night and Tuesday morning discussing what had changed. Why a red alert, why now? And why did the citizens only take action because it was in the media? What about last week, when it was TWICE AS BAD? I have many questions surrounding this topic and not a lot of answers. It made for an interesting discussion in my classes, as to why students were so depressed and moping. "Because the pollution!." Should we have cancelled classes? Probably. Were all the windows open in the university? Definitely. Did i feel protected from the pollution? not really. Did I still teach a great class? You betcha!
I didn't think it could ever be as bad as it was last Tuesday, when the pollution AQI index skyrocketed over 600 for a good chunk of the day. (see photos below. Well, see how you can't 'see' I suppose).
But the AQI was only (only!) hovering around 280. I didn't understand. And i really wished I spoke Chinese. So I started reaching out, trying to get to the bottom of this all. Apparently, primary and secondary schools in all of Beijing will be closed from Tuesday until Friday due to this pollution red alert. Why it's never been red before I don't know!
Articles started popping up in the news. NY times The Independent BBC
Meanwhile, I am bombarded with messages and emails from loving friends and family back in the States. "Are you ok?" "This looks serious?" "Should you get out?" "I can't believe you are there. Is it so bad?" My responses, "It's pretty normal. No big deal...."
But...but.... last week was so much worse! What is happening? Many of us Beijinger ex pats spent much of Monday night and Tuesday morning discussing what had changed. Why a red alert, why now? And why did the citizens only take action because it was in the media? What about last week, when it was TWICE AS BAD? I have many questions surrounding this topic and not a lot of answers. It made for an interesting discussion in my classes, as to why students were so depressed and moping. "Because the pollution!." Should we have cancelled classes? Probably. Were all the windows open in the university? Definitely. Did i feel protected from the pollution? not really. Did I still teach a great class? You betcha!
So about the pollution emergency response system: it is designed to issue alerts when pollution is forecasted to be hazarous (over 200 AQI) and will last for over 24 hours. One day = blue alert, two days = yellow alert, three days = orange alert and more than three days means red alert. On Sunday before the red alert the environmental minister said that officials and agencies failing to quickly implementat the pollution emergency response plan would be punished.. That might have something to do with the red alert being issued. Or maybe the wave of 500+ we had wasn't expected to last for more than three days and that's why "only" an orange alert was issued. (The difference in measures from orange to red is for example odd/even car ban and that schools and kindergartens should be closed)
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