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I...Can't...breath....

Friday, Nov 19, 2010 9:27AM / Standard Entry / Members only
15 comments

Here's a Beijing fun fact. This mornings air quality index was 562. Hm, just a number, I wonder what that means? So I checked out the handy scale the government (US, that is) put out about the readings.

Air Quality Index (AQI) Values)	Levels of Health Concern
When the AQI is in this range:	...air quality conditions are:
0-50	Good
51-100	Moderate
101-150	Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups
151 to 200	Unhealthy
201 to 300	Very Unhealthy
301 to 500	Hazardous

What happens after 500? It doesn't say. I had often wondered until I saw the numbers today. Here's the AQI twitter feed:

11-19-2010; 02:00; PM2.5; 562.0; 500; Crazy Bad // Ozone; 0.1; 0; No Reading

That's right, our Beijing's air quality is now officially crazy bad!

To review:

Beijing on a blue sky day:

Beijing on a cool sky day:

Beijing on a crap sky day:

Beijing on a "Crazy Bad" sky day:

Want to follow along? Check out http://twitter.com/beijingair and find out exactly when the air will become so polluted, I'll never be able to blog again. Or maybe I'll just stay indoors. With the air filter on high. Strapped to my face.

344 views

Entry comments (15)

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Li Jin Han
posted on Wednesday, Mar 16, 2011 2:20PM [Report]

miss you !jin lai hao ma >?
jayden1lee
posted on Tuesday, Dec 14, 2010 3:58AM [Report]

Wow..so skillful fwei's words ^^
fwei
posted on Tuesday, Dec 7, 2010 10:56PM [Report]

Wow u be my fans? but may i be ur friends then?

^^ shine a light on u!
hv a nice day christ!
JRS
posted on Tuesday, Nov 30, 2010 2:21PM [Report]

Beijing should always have the Olympics so that the air is better. So sorry for you, Chris!!!
gilgamesh
posted on Tuesday, Nov 23, 2010 12:45AM [Report]

Wow, very intense~=)
peachey
posted on Monday, Nov 22, 2010 3:02AM [Report]

Ick!! I suppose it doesn't help one iota what floor you live on, e.g. the higher, the more toxic. Over 500 should be labeled crazy bad _and_ dangerous but mayhap dangerous raises too many, er, red flags and admitting something is wrong. Take care, the Lay family.
Flagday
posted on Sunday, Nov 21, 2010 5:43PM [Report]

I thought maybe it was one of those ridiculous translation mistakes we often see. But crazy bad sounds like it hits the mark. I mean, what do you call something so off the charts? Insanely bad? And what does the US monitoring system do? Turn off the monitors. For diplomacy sake, stick their head in the ground, maybe cause the air's cleaner down there.
Christopher Lay
posted on Sunday, Nov 21, 2010 2:34PM

For those interested, here's a story about how the designation "Crazy Bad" came and left: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101119/ap_on_re_as/as_china_pollution
Christopher Lay
posted on Sunday, Nov 21, 2010 2:26PM

Well, in China's defense, the Crazy Bad came from the US Embassy monitoring station and seems to have possibly gotten someone in trouble for creating the label as the monitor has been switched off for the past couple of days. In any event, the air was crazy-nasty-yuck-I-can-taste-it bad.

As for what we can do, we run a very good air filter in the house that actually makes our indoor air quality some of the best in the world. We were fortunate enough to be part of an indoor air quality study and, due to running the filters, we had the best results comparing homes in China and the USA. Go BlueAir! Step outside and all bets are off.
Ee Hoon Khoo
posted on Sunday, Nov 21, 2010 1:59AM [Report]

Surely the crazy bad day will kill me!
Flagday
posted on Sunday, Nov 21, 2010 1:03AM [Report]

The sad thing is how the Chinese government totally ignored the hazards of unchecked industrialization which the West experienced. Before the Clean Air Act the air in our cities was ghastly, or gasply. For Melly, I remember visiting LA around 1980 and the air was a pure green and that was AFTER the CAA.

This must be so damaging to people's health. And for the children? What can you do to protect your daughter? Just too sad that you have to live in a place that even has a designation like "Crazy Bad."
Melly Durham
posted on Saturday, Nov 20, 2010 4:52AM [Report]

Egads... Makes me wonder how Los Angeles rates...
mhough
posted on Saturday, Nov 20, 2010 4:29AM [Report]

totally not used to this....wow
Zhou Le
posted on Friday, Nov 19, 2010 6:14PM [Report]

yeah these two days was... bad... , lets see tomorrow!
maestro
posted on Friday, Nov 19, 2010 1:24PM [Report]

Thx for the info about the AQI