No wonder China has restricted the number of cars that can enter its cities, and that it is trying to cut the thick fog of air pollution that hangs over its cities. While the country’s economy relies on factory production, one of its by-products has become remarkably toxic. Air pollution caused 17% of the deaths in China.

According to a Berkeley Earth study of air pollution in China:

[A]ir pollution kills an average of 4000 people every day in China, 17% of all China’s deaths. For 38% of the population, the average air they breathe is “unhealthy” by U.S. standards

Berkeley Earth Scientific Director Richard Muller wrote:

Air pollution is the greatest environmental disaster in the world today, When I was last in Beijing, pollution was at the hazardous level; every hour of exposure reduced my life expectancy by 20 minutes. It’s as if every man, women, and child smoked 1.5 cigarettes each hour.

The organization’s map of China shows just how bad the problem is in several industrial cities. Large metropolitan areas near Beijing, which include Tangshan, Handan and Shijiazbuang, have pollution levels comparable to the capital. These cities are large: the population of Tangshan is over 3 million, Handan is 2.9 million and Shijiazbuang is 4.8 million. None of these figures include the millions of people who live very close to these cities. If these are added, the total figure is nearly 30 million people.

The solution Berkeley Earth suggested is that China move to nuclear and renewable energy. Unfortunately, that would take decades, if it can be done at all. A retooling of China’s factories could take decades, and it would cut production that has become ever more essential as the nation’s economy falters.

The Chinese will have to live with air pollution, no matter the health consequences.

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