Can't even trust WHO anymore?

[Tgo01]

What is this shit? (http://www.cnn.com/2014/05/08/world/asia/india-pollution-who/)


Air quality in most cities that monitor their pollution levels exceed what the World Health Organization deems as safe.

Delhi has the highest level of the airborne particulate matter, PM2.5 considered most harmful to health, with 153 micrograms. Not far behind is another Indian city, Patna with 149 micrograms. These figures are six times what the WHO considers a "safe" limit -- which is 25 micrograms.

Half of the top 20 cities in the world with the highest levels of PM2.5 were in India, according to the pollution data released by the WHO, which included 1,600 cities. Other cities with high levels were located in Pakistan and Bangladesh.

PM2.5 refers to the diameter measured in microns of particulates such as ammonia, carbon, nitrates and sulfate -- which are small enough to pass into the bloodstream and cause diseases such as emphysema and cancer.

The WHO data echoes an earlier study this year which found that air pollution in New Delhi is now worse than Beijing.

No Chinese cities ranked in the top 20 most polluted cities, despite thick, gray smog filling its cities and millions of residents commuting behind surgical masks. Beijing reported 56 micrograms of PM2.5. This year, Chinese leaders have declared "war on pollution."

Beijing's emergency measures amid fog of pollution

Delhi has been described as having weak enforcement of pollution controls by India's Center for Science and Environment, a public interest group.

"Originally designed as compact entities to reduce the length of travel ... (Indian cities) are becoming victims of killer pollution, congestion ... and a crippling car-dependent infrastructure," according to the group.

And the world's most polluted city is...

Air pollution has spread by increasing reliance on fossil fuels, coal-fired power plants, cars and the use of biomass for cooking and heating.

Cities with the lowest level of pollution were located in Canada, the United States, Finland, Iceland and Sweden.

A couple of years ago just about every city in the top 20 polluted cities were Chinese and now all of a sudden they aren't even in the top 20? And what's more the pollution levels in these Chinese cities are only a fraction of what they are in these Indian cities?

Man. Looks like the Chinese government can get just about anyone and anything to do whatever they want these days, including WHO! How sad is this?

[Tenlaar]

Did you even do a google search or something before you jumped straight to "China got the WHO to lie to everybody?" India has had a steady and huge increase in the number of personal vehicles (especially diesel) for years, which people have been pointing at as a reason for their rapidly increasing air pollution (again) for years.

[Taernath]

I think he forgot to switch to his ClydeR account.

[Tgo01]

Did you even do a google search or something before you jumped straight to "China got the WHO to lie to everybody?" India has had a steady and huge increase in the number of personal vehicles (especially diesel) for years, which people have been pointing at as a reason for their rapidly increasing air pollution (again) for years.

So has China. The US embassy has been saying the pollution in Bejing has literally been off the charts for years now. And yes I did Google this and apparently the WHO used China's own (laughably low) numbers from 2010.


I think he forgot to switch to his ClydeR account.

Hey!

The theory goes I'm Latrinsorm and Latrinsorm is ClydeR but you can't just jump logic like that and say I'm ClydeR.

[Taernath]

Deep down, we are all ClydeR.

It is kind of funny that "The primary sources of data include publicly available national/subnational reports and web sites, regional networks such as the Asian Clean Air Initiative and the European Airbase, and selected publications." (http://www.who.int/phe/health_topics/outdoorair/databases/cities/en/) I would have thought that they have their own pollution monitoring stations instead of relying on government reports.

[Tgo01]

That's what I'm saying. How is this a "study" when you basically just call up each city and ask how bad their air pollution is? Because China is always so forth coming with information that makes their county look bad.

Heck even Latrin could have written up this "study."

Okay so maybe saying China "bullied" WHO was a bit of a stretch on my part but I believe China just fudged their numbers and WHO just ran with it instead of doing their own analysis.

[Tenlaar]

Okay so maybe saying China "bullied" WHO was a bit of a stretch on my part

If by "bit of a stretch" you mean "completely made up knee-jerk reaction", then sure.

[Tgo01]

If by "bit of a stretch" you mean "completely made up knee-jerk reaction", then sure.

It's the same thing. WHO didn't even bother to question China's numbers or mention it anywhere in their report.

Heck even you are willing to take China's numbers at face value. You live in China or something?

[Methais]

I'M ClydeR AND SO'S MY WIFE!

[Tisket]

Beijing reported 56 micrograms of PM2.5. This year, Chinese leaders have declared "war on pollution."

I just skimmed the article but I am suspicious of any self-reported findings.

[Taernath]

China's War Against Pollution marches inexorably forward, exacting a bloody toll on the Kebab Front (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/30/beijing-smog-kebab-vendors_n_5237418.html).


BEIJING, April 30 (Reuters) - Alarmed by pollution in the Chinese capital, authorities in Beijing will crack down on smoky outdoor grills from May 1, in a move that will hit the city's popular kebab stalls, state media reported on Wednesday.

[Tgo01]

China's War Against Pollution marches inexorably forward, exacting a bloody toll on the Kebab Front (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/30/beijing-smog-kebab-vendors_n_5237418.html).

Shit, I had no idea China was reigning in the heaviest pollution makers known to mankind; places making cucumber salads and kebabs. No wonder the pollution situation there has cleared up in a matter of 2 years.

[Latrinsorm]

I can't be the only one who thought this thread was going to be about the WHO verb.

[waywardgs]

I can't be the only one who thought this thread was going to be about the WHO verb.

Speaking of which, wasn't someone tracking the GS population? Whatever happened to that?

[Taernath]

http://forum.gsplayers.com/showthread.php?87260-some-demographics

That thread? I think Donquix only did it for a month. Otherwise there's this:

http://mudstats.com/World/GemstoneIV

[Jarvan]

Here is my Google Research. WHO should hire me next time.

http://aqicn.org/city/beijing/

[Jarvan]

On further research.. according to Airnow.gov, My area is at 59 for today for PM2.5.

Which is considered moderate. And I have never seen any smog in my area. So I can't imagine any major City in China is anywhere near a low of 59. Unless they used some top secret technology to blow it all to India the day that someone tested.

[Tgo01]

You're trying to say these pictures:

http://www.greenoptimistic.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Beijing-pollution.jpg

http://images.bwbx.io/cms/2013-01-18/0118_chinasmog_630x420.jpg

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Weather/WeatherWatch/2013/2/10/1360513997713/China-Beijing-pollution-008.jpg

http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/130129084046-01-beijing-smog-0129-horizontal-gallery.jpg

Don't prove the pollution in China is just slightly past the safe zone? Get outta here!

[JackWhisper]

DUDE! TGO! I KNOW DAT BITCH! She was at da CLUB, son!

[Tgo01]

DUDE! TGO! I KNOW DAT BITCH! She was at da CLUB, son!

No way! That one club, with the dude with the hair?

[Jarvan]

No way! That one club, with the dude with the hair?

Yeah, and that DJ that played that Music!

[Gompers]

First the WHO, now chicken nuggers...I'm not even sure I can trust my grandmother anymore.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eb1vcaqAivY&list=FLIz_nVNBXXvbTHPknBKptPQ

[Archigeek]

First the WHO, now chicken nuggers...I'm not even sure I can trust my grandmother anymore.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eb1vcaqAivY&list=FLIz_nVNBXXvbTHPknBKptPQ

A+ for narration. A+.

[waywardgs]

First the WHO, now chicken nuggers...I'm not even sure I can trust my grandmother anymore.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eb1vcaqAivY&list=FLIz_nVNBXXvbTHPknBKptPQ

That's effin hysterical.

[Tgo01]

Beijing's pollution is so bad no one wants to move there to work; even if they are offered great benefits. (http://www.npr.org/2014/06/25/325217677/beijing-from-hardship-post-to-plum-assignment-and-back-again)


As , it's also making it much harder for foreign firms to attract staff there these days. Some companies are now offering more money, more vacation and shorter stints to lure people to China's capital. What was once a plum assignment for expatriates is increasingly seen as a hardship post.

Ask Micah Truman. He came to Beijing in 1994 and thought he'd never leave. Truman had built businesses and a family in a city that has art galleries, great restaurants, centuries of rich history — even the Great Wall.

This week, though, after two decades, Truman and his Chinese wife will move their family to Seattle.

Over a recent sushi lunch downtown, Truman explained his change of heart.

"The environment obviously has degraded, the business is cutthroat, traffic is at an absolute standstill," says Truman of his adopted hometown. "Everything has just gotten emotionally, financially, environmentally so extreme, and at a certain point, you have to say, 'no more.' "

Truman says most of his longtime expatriate friends plan to leave within the next two years.

.

"I think most of them are in a similar boat to me," says Truman, a partner in AsiaWise, which helps connect American development projects with Chinese citizens seeking EB-5 investor visas to emigrate to the U.S.

"I'm in my early 40s, I have kids, they are 10 and 11, and I think many of us are saying, we want a life for our kids in a physically healthy environment."

There are no comprehensive numbers on the flow of expatriates in and out of Beijing, but anecdotally, there appears to be a slow exodus. Three Beijing relocation companies told NPR more expats are leaving than coming and said air quality was a driving factor.

"I think we're seeing an emerging trend," says Angie Eagan, managing director of MRI China Group, a recruiting and human resource consulting company. Eagan works with hundreds of firms in Asia. She says 20 to 30 percent of those she has talked to recognize that any of China's heavily polluted cities now qualify as hardship posts. She recently spoke with a Japanese technology company.

"They are having a horrible time getting people to go into Beijing," Eagan says. "Oftentimes, people are requesting that their families don't move to Beijing and that the company provides airplane tickets to fly back and forth to be with their families."

In addition, some firms will offer hardship allowance, fixed-term contracts, even — on occasion — two residences, Eagan says.

Lee Quane, regional director of ECA international, which provides data and consulting on salary packages, estimates that hundreds of expat executives have left China in the past several years because of the air. Others refuse to come here, he says, no matter what perks companies dangle, and choose more breathable countries in the region.

"I think a lot of people are saying, 'We don't really need this,' " says Quane, who works in Hong Kong, which also suffers from pollution but has markedly better air quality than Beijing or Shanghai. "If there is an opportunity for me in Singapore, I can enjoy exactly the same career path, but with a much better quality of living, I am easily going to vote with my feet."

Beijing's re-emergence as a hardship post is a throwback to the 1980s and 1990s, when companies offered lavish perks — not because of pollution, but because Beijing was backward, and navigating daily life was exhausting.

"We had a full-time cook, a full-time maid and we had a full-time driver," says James McGregor, who has lived in Beijing for a quarter-century and serves as chairman of Greater China for APCO Worldwide, a consulting firm. "But you needed all those, because there weren't grocery stores. You needed a cook who could go out to local markets and get stuff. In order to pay bills, your driver drove all over town and had to pay them in cash."

Beijing is infinitely more efficient and luxurious today. But earlier this month, McGregor called it quits and moved to Shanghai, citing the capital's air pollution as a major factor.

Shanghai has cleaner air than Beijing. In the past 12 months, Beijing ranked as China's 33rd most-polluted city, according to a running average of Chinese and U.S. government environmental measurements.

Shanghai tied with two other cities for 113th. Some of Shanghai's better air quality is due to its location along the East China Sea. Stiff winds often whip in and clear out the smog, which has made the business and financial hub even more attractive to expats.

When it comes to air quality in China, though, nothing is certain. Last December, that horrified the city's 24 million residents. Foreigners who could afford to stay home did so, and blasted their air filters.

"In Shanghai, perhaps we have been sort of lulled into a sense of confidence that this wouldn't bother us in the future," says Kenneth Jarrett, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai. "But that's no longer the case. So, it was really, very much a wake-up call."

Many expats see Shanghai as a relative refuge from China's choking smog, and they're hoping the city's air doesn't get any worse.

But naww, WHO isn't being dishonest, intellectually or otherwise.

[Dwaar]

I'd recommend 3 earlier releases by the WHO that might clarify this report.

1. Won't Get Fooled Again
2. We're Not Gonna Take It
3. I've Had Enough

[Thondalar]

First the WHO, now chicken nuggers...I'm not even sure I can trust my grandmother anymore.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eb1vcaqAivY&list=FLIz_nVNBXXvbTHPknBKptPQ

Oh my god...I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. That's priceless.

[Tgo01]

Oh my god...I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. That's priceless.

You should join The He-Man Woman Haters Club so you can see more of Gomper's videos.

[Methais]

I'd recommend 3 earlier releases by the WHO that might clarify this report.

1. Won't Get Fooled Again
2. We're Not Gonna Take It
3. I've Had Enough

http://i630.photobucket.com/albums/uu24/LatinoWolf/you-gonna-get-raped-byawhale.jpg