UK pushing for limits on air pollution to be relaxed, documents reveal 

Posted on December 14, 2015 by Respro® UK Ltd

In papers seen by the Guardian, government calls for carmakers to be allowed to far exceed the nitrogen oxides limit until 2021

The UK is pushing for a weakening of air pollution limits and a delay to their introduction in response to lobbying from the motor industry, documents reveal.

In revelations that will raise questions over the British government’s commitment to the climate change deal agreed in Paris at the weekend, papers obtained by ClientEarth, a firm of environmental legal experts, and seen by the Guardian, showed the UK had pushed for limits on pollution to be relaxed.

The government’s papers called for carmakers to be allowed to far exceed the nitrogen oxides (NOx) limit of 80mg/km until 2021, and to be allowed to go 40% over the current limit after that.

The revelation comes before a meeting of the European parliament’s environment committee on Monday evening, which is expected to voice strong objection to the decision to water down emissions limits.

Alan Andrews, a lawyer for ClientEarth, said: “The decision to water down vehicle emission standards was a political stitch-up by the commission and an unelected committee of technocrats that will force us all to breathe illegal levels of air pollution for years to come. These rules are illegal and should be vetoed by the European parliament. If they fail to, the British government should take legal action to strike them down.

The Department for the Environment and Rural Affairs (Defra) has accepted that more than 50,000 people a year die prematurely as a result of air pollution in the UK. The figure includes about 29,000 deaths hastened by inhaling minute particles of oily, unburnt soot emitted by all petrol engines and an estimated 23,500 by the invisible but toxic gas NOx emitted by diesel engines.

According to ClientEarth, the British government’s position in October showed that despite the VW scandal, it was more concerned about protecting the motor industry than Britons’ health. Volkswagen has been engulfed in a scandal after it emerged that some of its diesel cars had been fitted with devices that could detect when they were being tested, concealing the real level of pollutants being emitted when on the road.

This is not the first time the government’s commitment to reducing air pollution has been called into question. In September, it emerged that Defra lobbied against part of a proposed EU directive that would force member states to establish national testing regimes to catch out those who tried to conceal the damage they were doing.

The proposed legislation – the national emissions ceiling directive – is designed to “ensure that policies and measures are effective in delivering emission reductions under real operating conditions”, according to the European commission.

In April, the supreme court ordered the government to make plans for tackling the UK’s air pollution problem, which has been in breach of EU limits for years. The five judges unanimously ruled in favour of a legal challenge by ClientEarth and said the next environment secretary must draw up a plan to meet the EU rules by the end of 2015.

In October, the European commission controversially backed a relatively weak air pollution limit. Member states focused on the introduction of “real driving emissions tests” to bring closer the implementation of the EU limit of 80mg/km of NOx.

The new tests are intended to better reflect actual emissions during on-road driving. Because of uncertainty over the tests, however, carmakers lobbied for a generous margin of error, what is known as the conformity factor.

Most EU members – apart from Belgium, Denmark, Ireland and the Netherlands – also favoured weaker new tests. The UK said before the October decision: “On the limited evidence we have seen, we currently do not see a rationale for agreeing a conformity factor less than the 2.2 upper limit of the commission’s stated range.”

In other words, the UK wants carmakers to be allowed to far exceed EU NOx limit until 2021. After that, Defra wants a conformity factor of 1.4, or 40%.“It is also our judgement that the conformity factor should be set at a realistic and achievable limit for the industry, recognising that diesel is an inherent part of many manufacturers planning to deliver their CO2 obligations to to 2020,” said the position paper.

By voting to weaken rules on diesel vehicles, the government will undermine efforts to introduce an ultra low emission zone (Ulez) for London, say campaigners. Under the scheme, vehicles face an additional charge on entering the congestion charging zone unless they meet the EU NOx limit. However, if the EU regulations are watered down the Ulez will fail to deliver clean air for London.

A government spokesperson said: “The UK government is committed to taking action on emissions testing and we see real world testing (RDE) as the ultimate solution and a vital step in tackling air pollution. The vote to introduce RDE in 2017 is an important milestone but we will continue to press for a comprehensive approach at an EU level on emissions testing that restores consumer confidence and delivers our wider air quality and climate objectives.”

Source: UK pushing for limits on air pollution to be relaxed, documents reveal | Environment | The Guardian

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Urban air pollution: What are the main sources across the world? 

Posted on December 13, 2015 by Respro® UK Ltd

Particulate matter (PM) in the air can enter the human body, affecting the cardiovascular system as well as other major organs. Chronic exposure leads to a number of health risks. Researchers have identified the main categories of PM in urban air in 51 different cities around the world. On average, traffic is the biggest source of air pollution, responsible for one quarter of particulate matter in the air.

Particulate matter (PM) in the air can enter the human body, affecting the cardiovascular system as well as other major organs. Chronic exposure leads to a number of health risks. The European Commission’s in-house science service, the Joint Research Centre (JRC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) have identified the main categories of PM in urban air in 51 different cities around the world. On average, traffic is the biggest source of air pollution, responsible for one quarter of particulate matter in the air.

In order to reduce the negative health impact of air pollution, it is important to know its sources and quantity. Measurements of fine particles PM2.5 and PM10 serve as indicators of air quality. The recently published study shows, based on the available information, that traffic (25%), combustion and agriculture (22%), domestic fuel burning (20%), natural dust and salt (18%), and industrial activities (15%) are the main sources of particulate matter contributing to cities’ air pollution. However, there are significant differences between various regions of the world.

Atmospheric processes that lead to the formation of particles as a result of gaseous traffic, heating and agriculture emissions appear to be most considerable in North America, Western Europe, Turkey and the Republic of Korea. Domestic fuel burning dominates the contributions to particulate matter in Eastern Europe and in many developing countries in Africa. In the developing countries, this source is likely to be associated with cooking, while in Eastern Europe the use of coal for heating seems to be the most probable reason. Natural dust is the main source of PM10 in the Middle-East and Northern African countries, likely due to their vicinity to arid areas. Sea salt is the most important natural source of PM10 in north-western Europe.

The database resulting from this study is published on the WHO website.

 Source: Urban air pollution: What are the main sources across the world? — ScienceDaily
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Here’s why fixing Beijing’s air pollution problem is so complicated 

Posted on December 11, 2015 by Respro® UK Ltd

Beijing’s 21 million residents have just suffered through the first-ever “code red” pollution warning. And with winter only beginning, there may be more to come.

That’s because air pollution in Beijing is directly correlated to the time of year. There are other important factors, too, like the region’s topography.Here is an explanation of why the capital city’s air pollution is cyclical. And why it’s made worse by factors other than emissions.

Topography
Beijing lies in a plain, far below the elevation of mountains that surround it on one side. That can keep some pollution trapped in the city. It also alters wind and weather patterns.Beijing is at the northwest corner of the North China Plain. The Yanshan Mountains surround the city to the west, north and northeast. Beijing’s topography and location creates a climate described as “warm temperate and semi-humid monsoon.” Beijing’s winter season lasts five months or more. There is not usually much snow, but there is cold. Temperatures routinely fall below 0℃The cold weather means people put on heaters, which creates a higher demand for power. Because around 66 percent of China’s power is generated by coal, more demand for power means more coal burned.This climate means Beijing can sometimes be steamy. Humidity is common during the warmer months, averaging about 77 percent in August. The wetter air keeps pollutants trapped and makes it more difficult to blow away. The water molecules actually condense around pollutants, creating the infamous smoggy haze. Then, there’s Beijing’s “man-made” topography. As the city’s population booms – from 10 million in the 1990s to around 20 million today – more housing is needed. One solution has been to build skyscrapers. But tall buildings can also trap pollutants, preventing winds from blowing them out of the city.

Wind
Wind tends to blow into Beijing from three directions: from the east, from the south and from the north.When the wind blows from the east, it draws in clean air from over the ocean. The breezes are pleasant and help clear the air in the city. The worst pollution tends to blow in from the south, from provinces like Hebei, Shanxi and Shandong. Their heavily industrialized cities contribute to the capital’s polluted air.So cleaning the air over Beijing starts outside the city.So Beijing’s pollution problem is part meteorological and part man-made. Cleaning the man-made part will require work well outside the capital’s ring roads.

Source: Here’s why fixing Beijing’s air pollution problem is so complicated | CCTV America

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October, November witnessed ‘unhealthy’ air quality levels in Gurgaon too 

Posted on December 10, 2015 by Respro® UK Ltd

WHILE Delhi continues to be in the spotlight for its unhealthy air quality, its neighbour Gurgaon is not far behind. In response to an RTI by a city-based activist, the Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB) said Gurgaon’s air quality index (AQI) in October and November was relatively worse when compared to the rest of the year.

Incidentally, a recent survey of Gurgaon bureaucrats revealed that 68 per cent of them reported shortness of breath while 57 per cent showed reduced capacity of lungs.

According to the board’s response, the AQI for October was 152 — well within the unhealthy range of 151-200 as per the World Health Organisation’s benchmark and the national safe standard.

According to the pollution board’s Continuous Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Report, air quality in November took a turn for the worse as PM 10 and PM 2.5 levels shot up further.

“The levels of PM 10 and PM 2.5 exceeded the prescribed norms while other pollutants are well below the prescribed norm. In October, PM 10 was 153.60 per cent higher than the prescribed norm while PM2.5 was 125.8 per cent higher,” said the response from the pollution board.

In October, PM 10 levels was 256.36 micrograms per cubic metre (g/m3) while PM 2.5 level reached 114.52 g/m3. In November, PM 10 level touched 361.63 g/m3 whereas PM 2.5 levels were 114.52 g/m3.

However, officials feel Gurgaon’s air is better in comparison to neighbouring areas.

“Gurgaon has not been included in the real time monitoring of AQI as conditions are controlled here. All air polluting units in Gurgaon, which mostly fall under the Orange and Green categories, have air pollution control measures in place. Diesel-run share autos are mainly responsible for pollution,” said a senior scientist at HSPCB.

Meanwhile, citizens have resorted to protective measures against the noxious air by installing air-purifiers in their homes and offices. Vijay Kannan of Blueair air purifiers said the demand for the device increased five-fold post Diwali, mostly because of perpetual construction work in the city.

However, pulmonologists feel that it will require years of research to know if air purifiers actually work. “There has been an increase of about 20-25 per cent in the number of patients complaining of various respiratory problems post Diwali…. The concept of indoor air quality is new. Air-purifiers may help to control the air we breathe inside, there is no scientific evidence that it can improve overall air quality,” said Dr Himanshu Garg, a pulmonologist at Artemis hospital.

Source: October, November witnessed ‘unhealthy’ air quality levels in Gurgaon too | The Indian Express

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A view of Paris from a hot air balloon: putting pollution on the climate agenda 

Posted on December 10, 2015 by Respro® UK Ltd

The air quality is officially “good”, 400ft above Paris in a balloon at rush hour. From that height you can see the ring road and many of the city’s 37 bridges blocked with traffic, the commuting trains coming in, and – on the first cold day of winter – water vapour rising from several power stations as thousands of central heating systems fire up .

A yellowish haze has formed on the horizon as air pressure builds, but the pollution from Paris’s transport, construction sites and power stations is minimal compared to that of Beijing or New Delhi at this time of year.

Paris measures its air pollution from 20 official sites, one of which is a large helium-filled balloon tethered to the ground with a small measuring device strapped to its base. At 9am at ground level, it registers 66,500 particles in a single litre of air; 400ft up, however, it reads 78,000. The most it has recorded is more than 6m in November 2013 when the city’s fumes were trapped for days in a particular weather pattern.

Then, says Jean-Baptiste Bernard, a senior scientist at France’s national research station ( LPC2E ) in Orleans, it was not possible to see the Eiffel Tower from just 400 yards away. But even 6m particles a litre is nothing compared to what developing countries regularly suffer. At this time of year, he says, Chinese and Indian cities are likely to be 12 times as bad. This week Beijing was put on red alert as pollution levels from thousands of cars and factories rose to their highest levels in more than a year.

“Pollution at altitude is worse than at ground level. It is dominated [in Paris] by very small carbon particles. It is worst in spring. Paris, like London gets two or three incidents a year when particulate pollution can spike. When it reached 6m per litre in 2013 it was the equivalent of smoking 6-8 cigarettes,” he said.

Paris, which like London regularly exceeds EU pollution limits for some pollutants, such as NO2 gas, has begun “days without cars” and other measures to reduce traffic during the spikes of pollution which it experiences a year. When an alternate licence-plate system was introduced in September, it reduced NO2 levels by 10-40% in the city centre, said Bernard. It now plans to greatly increase cycling and reduce traffic with more public transport.

“This year it has not been too bad because of the wind and the rain. The real issue is not the spikes at peak times but the air we breathe all the year. It’s the everyday pollution which is the problem,” said a spokeswoman for Airparif, the independent monitoring organisation which works for the city of Paris.

“We need to reduce the number of diesels. We have a problem with heating systems, especially in the suburbs where people burn wood. In the spring there is a lot of pollution blown in from farms applying fertiliser,” said Bernard.

Bernard, one of France’s leading particle researchers, increasingly finds air pollution crossing national boundaries. Indian air now is affecting weather on a regional scale in the east European countries, he says. “There is a strong pollution effect in the eastern Mediterranean from India. This is climate change on a regional scale. New Delhi’s pollution spreads far. China’s pollution has been detected thousands of miles away.”

But there is conflicting evidence, he says, on how far that air pollution is linked to global warming. Some pollutants allow heat to escape, but others reflect the heat back to the ground, increasing warming and leading to the “heat island” effect.

Concern is growing that “short-lived climate pollutants”, like ozone, methane and black carbon emitted largely from diesels, are potential warming agents with dangerous impacts on human health and food production.

Black carbon, says the World Health Organisation, is largely soot, much of it emitted from diesel motors. “It is a primary component of particulate matter in air pollution that is the major environmental cause of premature death globally. It has a warming impact on climate 460-1,500 times stronger than CO2,” said a spokeswoman at a health summit in Paris this week.

“Equally, methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, is emitted largely from landfill sites,” she said. “People are beginning to understand that there is a direct link between air pollution and climate change, and that if they address air pollution they will also reduce climate change and improve health quickly. It’s a win-win situation.”

Source: A view of Paris from a hot air balloon: putting pollution on the climate agenda | Environment | The Guardian

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China Bans Cars As Air Pollution Hits Red-Alert Status 

Posted on December 9, 2015 by Respro® UK Ltd

Beijing is at whit’s end about how to solve its awful air pollution problem. Air quality continues to worsen year over year. And after a week of heavy smog in the capital city, authorities banned millions of people from driving on Tuesday.

The city ordered private cars off the streets and demanded the immediate stop on some construction projects. Industrial sites were closed temporarily, as were schools as air quality hit a red alert level for a second day.

Beijing has been lost in a gray cloud for the past week, with tiny carcinogenic particles known as PM2.5 reportedly at times above 300 micrograms per cubic meter. The World Health Organization’s recommended maximum exposure is 25 micrograms.
Traffic wasn’t entirely ground to a halt. The two year old color coded alert system allows for either even or odd number license plans to stay off the roads whenever there is a red alert. This is China’s first ever red alert, despite the fact that blinding smog has been worse before the system was enacted in 2013.

The move took an estimated 2 million cars off the road.

Cars aren’t the only polluters in China.

Most of the country’s smog is being born every day at coal fired power plants. China generates nearly all of its electricity from coal, even though it is the world’s largest producer of solar panels. Cheapeer coal is easier on the government’s coffers than a massive subsidized solar energy program. Solar doesn’t even register 3% in China’s electric power matrix.

The Chinese government is moving quickly to sign natural gas pipeline deals with Russia’s Gazprom in order to reduce its use of coal in the energy grid, but that sets up Beijing for a fight with provincial governments, where coal mining employs thousands of uneducated workers. Air quality is not only a health matter, it’s a deeply political one in China as well.

China’s growing middle class are becoming more aware of the impact of poor air quality on their health. Last year, the government cited air pollution as one of its most pressing problems following the Inconvenient Truth-style documentary titled “Under the Dome” that alerted hundreds of millions of locals to the health hazards associated with inhaling polluted air.

The government moved to provide more incentives such as tax breaks and increased subsidies to clean tech companies while increasing taxes on polluting industries like coal and chemicals.

Source: China Bans Cars As Air Pollution Hits Red-Alert Status – Forbes

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Beijing Issues Red Alert Over Air Pollution for the First Time

Posted on December 8, 2015 by Respro® UK Ltd

Officials in Beijing declared on Monday that the thick smog blanketing the city was bad enough to require a red alert, the first time they had raised the alarm to its highest level since an emergency air-pollution response system was announced in 2013.

Across the city, residents braced for another “airpocalypse” — the term that some English speakers here use for the most toxic bouts of air pollution.

If carried out properly, the temporary restrictions will affect many of Beijing’s more than 20 million residents. From 7 a.m. on Tuesday to noon on Thursday, schools will be required to close; cars will be allowed to drive only on alternate days, depending on their license plate numbers; and fireworks and outdoor barbecuing will be banned (grilled kebabs are a hugely popular street food in the city). In addition, government agencies will have to keep 30 percent of their automobiles off the streets.

An official signal of the announcement came around 6:30 p.m. Monday, when Xinhua, the state news agency, posted on its English-language Twitter account: “#Beijing issues first red alert for heavy #smog. Odd-even car ban imposed; schools suspended.” The post included a photograph of the Bird’s Nest, the stadium built for the 2008 Summer Olympics, shrouded in charcoal-gray smog and barely visible.

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/video/players/offsite/index.html?videoId=100000004078793

Around the same time, an official website of the Beijing government posted advisories on how to respond to the alarm.

One big question was whether officials would strictly enforce the regulations immediately, especially given the late notice on Monday. Many residents were left scrambling to plan for the next morning: what to do with children staying home from school, how to get to their jobs if they could not drive, whether they should even go to work.

The city government did not explain the timing of its announcement. Thick smog had already settled over Beijing by Sunday afternoon, with pollution reaching levels that the United States government labels “very unhealthy,” when everyone may experience the effects of toxic air and should avoid unnecessary outdoor activity. On Monday, even before the red alert, announcements in Beijing subway stations warned that a spell of toxic air was hitting the city and that it would last until Wednesday.

The red alert may be the Beijing government’s response to withering criticism it received from many residents last week who wondered why it had issued only an orange alert, the second highest, during the most recent “airpocalypse.” On Dec. 1, a blog post by Zhang Kai of Greenpeace East Asia asked, “What will it take for Beijing to call a Red Alert on pollution?”

Starting Nov. 28, an expanse of toxic air smothered northern China. Pollution in Beijing reached hazardous levels the next day and surged well beyond those levels on Nov. 30, when the air in some parts of the city contained deadly particulate matter called PM 2.5 that was nearly 40 times the limit recommended by the World Health Organization. It was the worst pollution of the year. The smog did not begin dissipating until late on Dec. 1, when strong winds blew across the city.

Under the system announced in 2013 and strengthened this year, Beijing is supposed to issue an alert at least 24 hours before the onset of bad smog. Officials can predict pollution levels based on wind and weather forecasts.

A red alert should go into effect if there is a prediction that the air quality index will stay above 200 for more than 72 hours. The United States government rates above 200 as “very unhealthy,” and 301 to 500 as “hazardous.” At 7 p.m. Monday, the Beijing municipal reading was 253.

The red alert was an upgrade from an orange alert issued on Saturday. By then, official Chinese news reports had already said a period of bad smog would start on Monday. Orange means outdoor construction should be halted, as well as the operations of companies that emit heavy pollution.

Chinese cities, especially northern ones, have some of the world’s worst air pollution. Most of it comes from industrial coal burning, and some from motor vehicles. The leaders in Beijing can ensure clear skies by ordering factories to shut down, but they have done so only during international summit meetings here and signature events like the military parade on Sept. 3 for the victory over Japan in World War II.

At international climate change talks, including the ones now underway in Paris, Chinese officials have promised to curb coal use in order to address both air pollution and carbon dioxide emissions.

“This week in Paris, China is rightfully getting credit for its policies to tackle climate change,” said Alex Wang, a law professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, who studies Chinese environmental policy. “But the extraordinary air pollution in Beijing right now demonstrates just how much remains to be done to make these policies work in practice.”

Source: Beijing Issues Red Alert Over Air Pollution for the First Time – The New York Times

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Beijing’s ‘airpocalypse’: city shuts down amid three-day smog red alert 

Posted on December 8, 2015 by Respro® UK Ltd

Children kept at home, building sites and factories closed and cars kept off roads as pollution engulfs Chinese capital

“Create a paradise,” urges the motto of Beijing’s Baijiazhuang primary school – a message stamped on to its front gate in bright red calligraphy.

On Tuesday morning, as China’s smog-choked capital declared its first ever air pollution red alert, the school, normally buzzing with over-energetic 10-year-olds, was almost silent. A pungent mist hung over the outdoor basketball courts and running track.

And inside the four-floor main building, hundreds of small wooden desks and chairs were empty.

“Usually it won’t be this quiet,” said Wang Ye, a 24-year-old English teacher, as she toured its ghostly corridors and classrooms where forgotten rucksacks and winter coats were among the few reminders of its normal routine.

Across Beijing, thousands of other schools and nurseries were in a similar state of almost total shutdown after the city’s authorities announced a three-day state of emergency because of the pollution.

Building sites and factories were forced to close; millions of cars were ordered off the roads; and teams of environmental inspectors fanned out across the surrounding region to ensure that coal-fired power stations and steel mills were not secretly churning out even more filth into the already putrid atmosphere.

“Environment authorities must closely follow the situation, improve monitoring and forecasting, and guide local governments’ emergency response plans,” China’s environment minister, Chen Jining, said, according to Xinhua, the official news agency.

At 7am, when the red alert – the first in Chinese history – officially came into force, a thick gloom hung over Beijing.

Pollution levels were already nearly 15 times higher than the World Health Organisation deems safe.

Wearing an anti-smog facemask, Wang set off from home just before sunrise and turned up for work alongside about 60 fellow teachers.

But following government advice, just 20 of the school’s 250 children – those whose working parents had nowhere else to send them – had showed up for class.

“Learning is quite important to them but health is more important. Under the circumstances I think they should stay at home,” said Wang.

“It’s quite difficult because we must develop and developing can bring some problems,” the teacher said of the smog. Asked about its physical effects, she croaked: “You can hear my throat.”

Those who missed the government’s high-profile announcement of the pollution alert on Monday evening needed only to pick up Tuesday morning’s papers for the gory details.

“The first ever red alert for heavy air pollution,” read the Beijing Times’ front-page headline, pointing readers to an inside spread detailing the city’s latest “airpocalpyse”.

Beneath was an image designed to highlight the Communist party’s determination to crack down on polluters: an environmental inspector using a camera to photograph an oil refinery not far from the capital.

Liao Yuxi, a news stand owner, said the alert had proved a double dose of bad news for his family. Not only had he been unable to send his 10-year-old son to school but newspaper sales were also down as many of Beijing’s 23 million residents avoided venturing out into the foul-tasting murk.

“Business isn’t good,” the 44-year-old said, as his child sat in the corner filling in a colouring book. “I read the papers every day. The government always says it is taking measures. But I haven’t seen any details of them.”

Li Biwen, a 55-year-old street sweeper, said he had no plans to hang up his broom despite the risk the smog posed to his lungs.

“In my village the air is much better,” said Li, who came to the Chinese capital from Sichuan province’s Luozi county almost two decades ago. “[But] in Sichuan I was a farmer. I can make more money in Beijing.”

He said his employers had handed out facemasks when the red alert was announced. “But I don’t want to wear it,” Li said, sweeping cigarette butts from a dust-clogged gutter. “It’s at home.”

Others were making the most of the three-day shutdown, which is set to last until Thursday when rain should clear the smog.

“We’re off today. Everything has stopped,” said Zhang Lijun, a plumber who would normally have been working on one of several skyscrapers being built in the central business district.

In the absence of work, Zhang, 37, was sprawled out in the back of a transit van parked near his building site enjoying a pre-lunch can of Blue Ribbon beer and a cigarette.

But the plumber, who had travelled from the neighbouring province of Hebei to find work, was unimpressed at the suspension. “I don’t think it’s a good thing. If we don’t work we don’t get paid,” said Zhang, who usually receives 200 yuan (£20.70) a day.

Jin Yingtang, a 44-year-old carpenter, turned up at another construction site to find a red placard informing workers of the shutdown. “Halt all dirt trucks, gravel trucks and other vehicles which are prone to produce dust and smog,” the sign read. “All construction units must stop outdoor work.”

Jin shrugged when asked about the red alert’s impact on his life. “I don’t feel good or bad about it,” he replied. Asked about his plans for his day off, he grinned. “I’ll have a little rest,” he said.

As the pollution levels climbed on Tuesday afternoon, teachers at Baijiazhuang primary school battled to minimise the disruption for their children.

Zhang Guohui, the dean, said staff were using the internet and social messaging networks such as WeChat to help pupils study from home.

Wang said she thought her 35-strong class would take advantage of such methods rather than using the smog as an excuse to slack off. “I believe they won’t just play. They will learn.”

Sat in an office beside the school’s deserted reception, she said her workplace was a lonely one without the boisterous youngsters it was built to educate. “Usually there would be a lot of noise,” Wang said. “But we love to hear them laugh. That’s quite beautiful.”

 

Source: Beijing’s ‘airpocalypse’: city shuts down amid three-day smog red alert | World news | The Guardian

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