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dairyairy
Joined: 17 May 2012
Location: South Korea
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 Posted: Fri Feb 28, 2014 3:40 am Post subject: |
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| Mr. Pink wrote: |
The thing that really should get you banging your head against the wall is this has been happening for almost 20 years. When I was in Korea I'd get ticked that internationally nothing is being done. Being in China for 5 years the irony was discovered that a lot of those factories are owned by Koreans.
Anyways, air was like 3 weeks of toxic crap...Korea gets a few days out of that. Crap but not like living in the soup full time! |
The long-term effects will be right up there with other great disasters. They've fouled their own nests. |
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World Traveler
Joined: 29 May 2009
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World Traveler
Joined: 29 May 2009
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World Traveler
Joined: 29 May 2009
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| Posted: Fri Feb 28, 2014 6:31 am Post subject: |
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It's the sixth day in a row of hazardous pollution in the city -- and now the World Health Organization has called China's smog a crisis.
http://www.arirang.co.kr/News/News_View.asp?nSeq=158230
Pollution levels in Beijing are above 450 on an air quality index-- that's nine times the level deemed safe for humans. |
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creeper1
Joined: 30 Jan 2007
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| Posted: Fri Feb 28, 2014 6:40 am Post subject: |
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What is happening in China is VERY scary.
However you can rest assured that Korea is virtually unaffected.
The pollution from Beijing is diluted many thousands of times as it crosses the vast distances between Beijing and Korea.
And I'm not talking out of my rear. I have science to back this up - http://aqicn.org/map/
There absolutely nothing for Korean TEFLers to worry about. Korea is a clean place. |
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World Traveler
Joined: 29 May 2009
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| Posted: Fri Feb 28, 2014 6:53 am Post subject: |
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Compare America's most populous city (the financial capital of the world):
http://aqicn.org/map/newyork/
…to this:
http://aqicn.org/map/southkorea/
Check out Canada:
http://aqicn.org/map/ontario/
At the time of me posting this, all sections of Seoul are over 100. Some are 125. Yesterday some readings were over 150. (But maybe that will clear up later.) The other thing to consider is South Korea is saying it can't get accurate enough readings and is therefore underreporting particle matter in readings. The Korean government is working to get more accurate forecasts and readings, which is why it is teaming up with China. Maybe that map leaves something to be desired. What kind of particles is it measuring? For the city of Beijing, almost of sections of the city were in the 100 range, with only a few (barely) topping 200.
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| People further from the source of the dust are more often exposed to nearly invisible, fine dust particles that they can unknowingly inhale deep into their lungs, as coarse dust is too big to be deeply inhaled.[1] After inhalation, it can cause long term scarring of lung tissue as well as induce cancer and lung disease. |
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mayorhaggar
Joined: 01 Jan 2013
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| Posted: Fri Feb 28, 2014 4:52 pm Post subject: |
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It's been like this off and on almost all winter long, and was really bad around this last Tuesday and Wednesday. I think it's the usual Chinese pollution mixed with SK pollution, but with smog from coal-burning heaters in Chinese homes mixed in during the winter. Now that it's finally warming up hopefully it will dilute, but then we'll start getting yellow dust.
What sucks is that South Korea kind of sucks up to China as a big brother, because of economic reasons and because they're united in hating Japan. Plus they're both "face-saving" countries incapable of giving or receiving criticism. So I don't really see SK doing anything to pressure China on pollution, even though they're really screwing up Korea and the health of millions of Koreans. |
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grnmle
Joined: 13 Sep 2007
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| Posted: Fri Feb 28, 2014 6:17 pm Post subject: |
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I've been using this sight to see pollution in the region.
http://aqicn.org/map/
I live in Kyoto, Japan. It started to clear up yesterday after 3 days of yellow skies. Now it is back.
Can't even enjoy my last few days off work.
Leads me to thinking about the next generation. Sad sad sad. |
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World Traveler
Joined: 29 May 2009
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| Posted: Fri Feb 28, 2014 7:39 pm Post subject: |
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http://aqicn.org/map/washington/
Look at the pollution levels in Seattle and Portland. So low (for now at least), but maybe in the future the Chinese yellow dust will become a problem even there. There have already been news reports saying Chinese air pollution has reached the United States (to some degree at least). |
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Joe Boxer
Joined: 25 Dec 2007
Location: Bundang, South Korea
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| Posted: Fri Feb 28, 2014 8:49 pm Post subject: |
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| World Traveler wrote: |
http://www.arirang.co.kr/News/News_View.asp?nseq=158282
Thick, toxic smog has blanketed large parts of central Korea and the capital Seoul over the last few days.
Responding to criticism the country's smog forecast system is not up to standards, Environment Minister Yoon Seong-kyu says Korea will jointly develop a new forecast model with Beijing to better prepare citizens for fine-dust waves that are headed to Korea.
The ministry says China has far superior technology than Korea and Japan in terms of atmospheric forecasting. |
Lol, had to get that in. |
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grnmle
Joined: 13 Sep 2007
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| Posted: Sat Mar 01, 2014 1:25 am Post subject: |
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World Traveler - I don't think that much travels in the air all the way to NA. However, I think it is a big contributor to ocean acidification which, many people think, is a large factor in the ongoing collapse of shellfish (oysters, scallops) on the west coast.
Pretty hard to accept what is happening to the environment.
Made me think of this: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/10/29-4 |
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World Traveler
Joined: 29 May 2009
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| Posted: Sat Mar 01, 2014 1:35 am Post subject: |
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| Pollution doesn’t pay attention to national boundaries, so there’s nothing stopping China’s smog from drifting back across the Pacific Ocean to plague Los Angeles. And that’s just what’s happening, according to a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Researchers from China, Britain, and the U.S. estimate that emissions from Chinese factories add up to an extra day of unhealthy air quality per year in the Hollywood Hills. |
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“We’ve outsourced our manufacturing and much of our pollution,” study co-author and University of California at Irvine earth-systems scientist Steve Davis said in a statement. “But some of it is blowing back across the Pacific to haunt us.”
As much as a fourth of the sulfate pollution in the western U.S. derives from Chinese factories. |
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| The U.S. is hardly alone in facing a China smog problem. Japan and South Korea regularly experience bouts of westerly winds bringing unwelcome particulate matter from their near neighbor. Korean media has even given a nickname to toxic clouds from China: “air raids.” |
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-01-21/chinese-smog-reaches-all-the-way-to-los-angeles |
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World Traveler
Joined: 29 May 2009
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| Posted: Sat Mar 01, 2014 4:13 am Post subject: |
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last year in Seoul, the level of PM10 rose past 100 micrograms per cubic meter – double the WHO guideline value – on 16 days, compared with 5 days in 2012, according to the city. PM10’s small size enables them to enter lungs and cause pulmonary and other diseases.
Who’s to blame? A Seoul-commissioned study in late 2011 said the wind from South Korea’s northwest is responsible for nearly half of the microscopic particular matters in Seoul’s air. The other half originated locally or from neighboring municipalities.
http://blogs.wsj.com/korearealtime/2014/02/04/seoul-to-crack-down-on-barbeques-and-spas-to-combat-pollution/
Meanwhile, to achieve further reductions at home, Seoul is looking to less obvious sources of air pollution: grill restaurants and communal spas.
The city-commissioned study says some 10,000 Korean barbeque joints in the city are responsible for 1/20 of the total PM2.5 emission and that its 1,135 bathhouses are responsible for 1/40. The businesses will be treated as air-polluting facilities from next year, meaning they can be fined for going over the emission standards.
This year, Seoul will conduct additional studies about how to filter particulate matter from popular table-top grill restaurants and on the level of emission in spas that are usually open 24 hours.
Seoul also vowed it will further incentivize vehicles that use less-polluting energy, facilitate public transport access and encourage alternative transport like carpool, bikes and walking.
More diesel-fueled vehicles will be replaced with those using less-polluting energy, the city said. |
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Weigookin74
Joined: 26 Oct 2009
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| Posted: Mon Mar 03, 2014 10:16 pm Post subject: |
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| creeper1 wrote: |
What is happening in China is VERY scary.
However you can rest assured that Korea is virtually unaffected.
The pollution from Beijing is diluted many thousands of times as it crosses the vast distances between Beijing and Korea.
And I'm not talking out of my rear. I have science to back this up - http://aqicn.org/map/
There absolutely nothing for Korean TEFLers to worry about. Korea is a clean place. |
You ever see the whitish hazy sky here and the rarety of blue sky and white puffy clouds here? A clear day where the mountains can be seen in precision detail are even rarer. There's always a haze in the air to the point it blocks the views and seems to keep the weather at bay. First thing I noticed after visiting Canada for the first time years last summer was the blue sky and white puffy clouds almost every day.
While Im sure Korea is more mild than China by far, there is still an effect here. Even on days when it's supposedly dry, there's this haze blocking the mountains. It ain't fog. |
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SeoulNate
Joined: 04 Jun 2010
Location: Hyehwa
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| Posted: Mon Mar 03, 2014 10:34 pm Post subject: |
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was gone on sunday... already back...
sad... |
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