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Air pollution in Korea + Japan + China today
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mithridates



Joined: 03 Mar 2003
Location: President's office, Korean Space Agency

PostPosted: Tue Oct 22, 2013 2:59 am    Post subject: Air pollution in Korea + Japan + China today Reply with quote

China stands out a bit:

http://i.imgur.com/jcRUzG8.jpg
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Popocatepetl



Joined: 14 Oct 2013
Location: Winter in Korea: One Perfect day after another

PostPosted: Tue Oct 22, 2013 3:12 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Add in the australian wildfires and the permanent slash-and burn happening in Indonesia and I'm amazed we're even able to breathe.
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Milwaukiedave



Joined: 02 Oct 2004
Location: Goseong

PostPosted: Tue Oct 22, 2013 6:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

China is screwing themselves. That 7.8% growth comes at a hefty price.
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saram_



Joined: 13 May 2008

PostPosted: Tue Oct 22, 2013 7:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Not sure where the greater threat lies..
The air pollution from China or the radioactive waste from Japan. ( not to mention NK)

Korea is squeezed in the middle.

Heard recently through an adult student that a top level nuclear scientist here had said he wouldn't be surprised if Japan was completely evacuated inside of 30/40 years.... This was not something he was shouting from the rooftops but rather telling his close friends and family.

It's quite a prediction..
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mayorhaggar



Joined: 01 Jan 2013

PostPosted: Tue Oct 22, 2013 8:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I've used that site quite a bit...I don't get how SK's numbers are so low, but the air here is so hazy unless it's fairly cool outside, even in my countryside town. Why is the air so relentlessly hazy if the pollution numbers look so low?
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World Traveler



Joined: 29 May 2009

PostPosted: Tue Oct 22, 2013 9:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

First, those numbers show pollution significantly worse than our home countries. Just because Korea has air better than China's (which is the worst of the worst), doesn't mean it is healthy to breathe. Next, it is possible the numbers for Korea are not wholly accurate, as they have been known to fudge things in order to make themselves look good. Another reason is now may be a weather pattern that made the numbers temporarily low over Korea.
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creeper1



Joined: 30 Jan 2007

PostPosted: Tue Oct 22, 2013 10:11 pm    Post subject: crazy Reply with quote

Absolutely shocking and disturbing!

Here is a video discussion of this horrific situation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94OpRq8VrqA

BTW Korea's air is comparatively pure and clean.
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mayorhaggar



Joined: 01 Jan 2013

PostPosted: Tue Oct 22, 2013 10:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

World Traveler wrote:
First, those numbers show pollution significantly worse than our home countries. Just because Korea has air better than China's (which is the worst of the worst), doesn't mean it is healthy to breathe. Next, it is possible the numbers for Korea are not wholly accurate, as they have been known to fudge things in order to make themselves look good. Another reason is now may be a weather pattern that made the numbers temporarily low over Korea.


The numbers on that site for Japan always seem to be the same or a bit less than South Korea. Went to Japan this last August and the air was just as clean and blue-sky as in the US. Came back to Korea and it was gray and hazy as ever. I've asked Koreans and they either claim the air is very clean or it's polluted by China.
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jvalmer



Joined: 06 Jun 2003

PostPosted: Tue Oct 22, 2013 11:19 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

You do see blue clear skies in Korea, if you travel outside of the Seoul area. But, do I find Seoul's air pollution on par with most major cities in North America. I'm from Calgary, and there are days driving into the city that occasionally make Seoul's air look pristine.
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World Traveler



Joined: 29 May 2009

PostPosted: Wed Oct 23, 2013 3:05 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

jvalmer wrote:
I find Seoul's air pollution on par with most major cities in North America.

Not true, man. America's air is statistically much better, including in the major cities. Not too long ago, I saw an article saying the U.S., Canada, and Australia have some of cleanest in the world. (Google it; search and ye shall find.) England has some clean air too from the stats. Not sure about South Africa, but I think they do too.
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Joe Boxer



Joined: 25 Dec 2007
Location: Bundang, South Korea

PostPosted: Wed Oct 23, 2013 4:27 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Wow, North Korea has no pollution at all! Smile
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tideout



Joined: 12 Dec 2010

PostPosted: Wed Oct 23, 2013 12:04 pm    Post subject: Air... Reply with quote

I found my first year in Korea to be ok as to the air quality. My second year there was terrible when it got at all warm. That was north of central Seoul.

Bangkok wasn't so great but better than Seoul overall. Ho Chi Minh wasn't great either. I think all of those motor bikes add up.

The all time worst was in China about an hour outside of HK. At times the toxicity and smell of the "sh**" river as we called it was too much. I was happy to leave after a short stint there.

One of the reasons I left Asia was to return to a more rural area in the US where population density and air quality was better IMHO.

Clean air is no joke.....
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mayorhaggar



Joined: 01 Jan 2013

PostPosted: Wed Oct 23, 2013 9:53 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

jvalmer wrote:
You do see blue clear skies in Korea, if you travel outside of the Seoul area. But, do I find Seoul's air pollution on par with most major cities in North America. I'm from Calgary, and there are days driving into the city that occasionally make Seoul's air look pristine.


Seoul is definitely the worst, but outside of it the air is still hazy when it's hot or at least warm out. I live in the middle of Chungbuk in a rural town, it was hazy all summer long except for a few days here and there, mainly after a heavy rain. Even Busan is hazy despite being right on the ocean.

Also S. Korea is definitely way hazier than anywhere in the US that isn't suffering from bad wildfires. I spent a year in LA before coming here and LA skies are way cleaner. There's the smudgy ring of smog at the horizon but the skies are blue and the air isn't so hazy that a mountain a kilometer away is noticeably hazy. Everything in LA looks normal until something is like 20 to 25 miles away, then stuff starts looking noticeably hazy. In my town the hills just outside of town were noticeably obscured. In Seoul the next building over is noticeably obscured. At night when you see cars going by with headlights on, in the beams of light you can see hazy murky smoky stuff.
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jvalmer



Joined: 06 Jun 2003

PostPosted: Wed Oct 23, 2013 10:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

It's pretty blue where I am. I'm somewhere south-ish of Daejeon. Can even see the next city over most days if you're high-up enough.
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matthews_world



Joined: 15 Feb 2003

PostPosted: Sun Oct 27, 2013 7:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Visit China once in a while.

You will see blue skies. Even in the developed east.

Northeast is where it gets the worse. I don't know how foreigners are able to stand living there, especially in the winter.

If you remember the Harbin, China No Reservations episode, Tony talks about how everything north of the Yangtze is run on coal and thus the spikes in the winter.

I've been to Shanghai. It's not that bad. It usually doesn't get up above 250-300 which is tolerable.
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