Battle against pollution likely a long one
We were getting closer to the days when residents of Beijing would have to worry less about nausea, coughs, sore throat, watery eyes, poor daytime visibility and bad moods.
We were moving toward full weeks without having to wear face masks — not the cosmetic variety — but the ones used for tackling smog. Some of us living in the city had already started to wonder why some others were keeping their masks on even on days when the Air Quality Index gave us little reason to do so. Old habits die hard.
There were fewer “airpocalypse” jokes on Chinese social media, too.
That was in 2017, when the Chinese capital saw its bluest skies for the longest stretches in years — a total of 226 “good air days”, as the municipal environmental protection bureau put it. And, a 33 percent reduction in PM2.5 levels in the last quarter of the year in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, according to a global advocacy group.
But the gray skies returned on Tuesday in Beijing with the reminder that the battle against air pollution will likely be long-drawn.
The face mask, which has become an item of daily necessity like the cellphone, won’t be going away soon.
In the past few years government measures to control air pollution have intensified though. Polluting industries are being fined and warned. There are plans to curb the use of coal and emphasis is being placed on the development of cleaner fuel alternatives such as wind and solar. Car emissions standards are expected to be raised.
China’s industrialization over the past four decades has left many of its cities grappling with air, water and soil pollution even as it lifted millions out of poverty.
The government will also need to figure out how to absorb the labor force that will be laid off when overcapacity in coal and steel are cut. Plus, the sustainable reuse of sites of shut mines and abandoned factories. Some estimates suggest China will need to spend billions of dollars in the fight against pollution.
Other developing countries also have to bear the cost of change if they want to give their citizens a cleaner environment and reduce health risks posed by pollution.
I spent my initial months in Beijing counting the number of off-scale smoggy days (there were quite a few) after I moved here from New Delhi nearly five years ago.
Now, I read media reports about how Delhi has emerged as one of the most polluted cities in the world.
Policymakers in both countries recognize the problem and are seeking solutions. It will be an uphill task for China and India because the population pressure they face isn’t something the developed world had to deal with while correcting the wrongs of the Industrial Revolution.
Achieving a balance between economic development and environmental preservation looks easier on paper than it does on the ground.
But I hope both countries can benefit from the hindsight wisdom of others to the extent possible.