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Articles on China smog

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Thousands protest against the proposed expansion of a chemical factory in Ningbo, Oct. 28, 2012. AP

As incomes rise in China, so does concern about pollution

China has the world’s second-largest economy, powered by cheap labor and cheap fossil fuel. But now Chinese urbanites want greener, healthier lifestyles. Can the government deliver them?
An example of the restoration of a degraded mountain slope in China. The country has numerous initiatives underway to battle climate change. Anthony Mills

What Africa can learn from China about climate change adaptation

China has many climate issues, but the steps the country is taking to combat these issues is being recognised worldwide.
China’s government says it plans to tackle smog, but has also moved to shut down criticism on the issue in the wake of a popular online documentary. EPA/DIEGO AZUBEL

China’s ‘Silent Spring’ has many more political hurdles to jump

Under the Dome, a hugely popular online documentary about China’s smog crisis, could be as influential as 1962’s US pesticide exposé Silent Spring - but only if Chinese officials allow debate to flourish.
China’s air pollution reached crisis levels last year - but dealing with it could also mitigate climate change. William Veerbeek/Flickr

China’s plan to combat pollution will fight climate change too

Last month was the hottest May in terms of global surface temperature in a historical record that extends back 130 years, according to NASA, and with an El Niño forecast for the end of the year, we could…
Forbidden forest to replace the Forbidden City? myheimu

Planting forests across Beijing could help combat pollution

Smog has become an unfortunate feature of Chinese city skylines. Air pollution has gotten so bad in recent years that citizens have rallied and the government has declared a war upon it. One weapon in…
Tourists wear protective masks in smoggy Tiananmen Square on February 26, 2014, when the air quality was officially ‘hazardous’. EPA/Rolex Dela Pena

China can’t smother growing public demands to clear the air

Beijing has once again experienced extremely poor air quality, in what is becoming a regular event for the Chinese capital and other parts of the country. But has anything changed since the last “airpocalypse…
Thick haze has shrouded Shanghai for the past week, in the latest instance of extreme air pollution. Wikimediacommons/Galaxyharrylion

Shanghai’s ‘airpocalypse’: can China fix its deadly pollution?

The current “airpocolypse” emergency in Shanghai - which has seen schoolchildren ordered indoors to protect them from the polluted air, flights grounded and companies ordered to cut production - comes…
Cold weather and coal-burning fires have plunged China into another air pollution disaster. EPA/Hao Bin

China is groping its way through another ‘airpocalypse’

The cold weather has come, the coal-powered heating has been switched on, and China’s north is once more swathed in thick smog. Air pollution has been a worsening problem in China in recent years, and…
The price of China’s rapid economic growth has been toxic air pollution.

China’s growing pains: expect more smog on the horizon

Beijing has been blanketed by another round of heavy smog, this time causing more chaos as businesses reopen and people return after the Lunar New Year Holiday. Over the past eight weeks, the capital has…
Heavy smog is descending on Beijing again, a week after record air pollution choked China’s capital and much of northern China. AAP/EPA/Adrian Bradshaw

Deadly air: the smog shrouding China’s future

Beijing has been smothered by a dense and dangerous smog this month, which has set new air pollution records over several days. The World Health Organization advises that the acceptable level of fine particles…

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