Open a google search page and enter "images Chinese air pollution".
Dozens of images that are... breathtaking to look at.
But then again... look at photos of Altoona Pennsylvania in the 1930's and 1940's. Altoona was where the big shops of the Pennsylvania Railroad were located, and back then the PRR was coal-powered. Folks in town had to wash down their walls once or twice a year to get the coal dust off -- the INSIDE of the homes.
Somewhere between Beijing and today's EPA in DC there's a balance that must be found. Perhaps it might be reached by rolling back current regs to where they were, say, in the year 2000. And leave things at that.
Lines from Si Kahn's great song "Aragon Mill":
At the east end of town
At the foot of the hill
There's a chimney so tall
That says "Aragon Mill".
But there's no smoke at all
Comin' out of that stack
For the mill has pulled out
And it ain't comin' back.
I wonder if the folks there would -like- to have smoke comin' out of the stacks again.
That meant jobs and the prosperity that followed.
Looks like the Chinese have taken the jobs, and received the pollution in spades...
