Amid the intense and harmful effects of air pollution which are plaguing the heavily populated areas of China, the local government of Beijing has issued new regulations to combat the serious issue.
The strict rules were implemented this past Thursday when scientists presented the city several warnings about the dangers too much pollution can have on the atmosphere and, consequently, the health of Beijing’s inhabitants. Additionally, the International Agency for Research on Cancer announced that they were now adding pollution to their human carcinogen list; comparing it to such things as cigarette smoke and asbestos.
The plan is being laid out now because colder months tend to bring larger amounts of air pollutants as a result of the increased usage of heating systems which are powered by coal. Local officials explained that the new regulations will be made up of a series of alerts consisting of four colors that will be displayed depending upon the level of pollutants that are present in the atmosphere on any given day. The first two alerts would be the colors blue and yellow which indicate heavy to serious pollution. This would mean that the entire city would need to wash its streets down; an act that would restrict the amount of debris being swept into the air. The last two alerts would be indicated by the colors orange and red. An orange alert would mean that there had been three straight days of heavy pollution, thus resulting in shutdowns of construction sites and the use of firecrackers as well as barbecue grills. The red alert would be the most serious and signify the complete shutdown of schools and restrict the ability of people to drive their vehicles.
Hopefully, this policy will bring about a significant reduction in the amount of pollution being emitted into the atmosphere.