Fume for improvement

15 January 2013 By John Foley Follow @johnsfoley

Bad air stands in the way of good development. The damage to health and buildings undermine the benefits of rapid economic growth. Victorian London’s sewage problems offer a blueprint for change. There, reform became a priority when the smell got up the elite’s noses too.

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Air quality in Beijing was the worst on record on Jan. 12 and 13, according to environmental campaign group Greenpeace, while the local pollution monitoring centre warned residents to stay indoors.
The recommended daily maximum level for particulates measuring less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter is 25 micrograms per square metre, according to the World Health Organisation. On the afternoon of Jan. 12, Beijing’s average reading was 630 micrograms, according to the levels reported by the U.S. Embassy in Beijing.
Some cities including Beijing and Shijiazhuang ordered some official cars off the roads to ease the pollution, according to local government websites and Chinese media, while others reported temporary factory closures.
An estimated 8,752 premature deaths occurred in four major cities in 2012 because of high PM2.5 levels, according to a report by Greenpeace and Beijing University’s School of Public Health in December. It cited economic costs to those cities of $1.1 billion.

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