5 Realities of Smog So Bad it Blots out the Sun

Our thoughts about the famous Cracked.com.

5 Realities of Smog So Bad it Blots out the Sun

Postby BROWNRECLUSE » Wed Feb 10, 2016 6:05 pm

http://www.cracked.com/personal-experiences-2140-5-realities-smog-so-bad-it-blots-out-sun.html

So, yeah, this is some scary shit.

And while our government looks to ban things like incandescent bulbs and modifying your own cars for racing , it seems as though China truly does not give a steaming shit about destroying the environment and their people.
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Tesseracts wrote:In this age of falsehoods and lies, it's comforting to know some people are genuinely idiots.
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Re: 5 Realities of Smog So Bad it Blots out the Sun

Postby Tesseracts » Wed Feb 10, 2016 6:29 pm

I wouldn't care about the environment if I were Chinese either. They need to put the economy first. America can afford to protect the environment, but the ban on lightbulbs was completely worthless.
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Re: 5 Realities of Smog So Bad it Blots out the Sun

Postby Tuli » Wed Feb 10, 2016 7:13 pm

There are plenty of Chinese who also care about the environment, they just have no recourse.

One of the times I flew to Beijing my plane was actually not able to land because of the smog. The plane was redirected to Shanghai where it restocked on fuel, and then flew BACK to Beijing because it had apparently cleared up enough by then. It was kind of a tense situation as I had a connecting flight to catch! Fortunately had enough time to make it despite the 2 hour detour.
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Re: 5 Realities of Smog So Bad it Blots out the Sun

Postby BROWNRECLUSE » Wed Feb 10, 2016 7:18 pm

Well, to clarify I meant that the government and the industrial leadership didn't care.

I'm sure a lot of the citizens aren't happy about smog so thick you can vacuum it and make a brick out of it
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Re: 5 Realities of Smog So Bad it Blots out the Sun

Postby Twistappel » Wed Feb 10, 2016 8:46 pm

The pollution regulations are nearly impossible to enforce on a day-to-day basis (too many people, too many polluters), so the government has to pick its pollution-related battles carefully.

The article touched on the issue of enforcement, and I think that's a very large part of the problem.

The Man-creature and I have both spent a decent amount of time working for environmental consultancies in Australia. Even there, where pollution is reasonably well controlled, there simply aren't enough inspectors to get around to every site in the country. So unless you do something really spectacular, like poisoning the water supply, blowing up the Great Barrier Reef, or giving a bunch of orphans leukaemia, there's a good chance you're not going to get caught. From I understand about the US system, things aren't any better here.

Trying to manage the problem in China would be insane.

Then there's the issue of getting people to actually audit things properly. Even with the best intentions, a lot of auditors just plain suck at their jobs. From what I understand from people I know who have done business in China, it is not uncommon for inspectors to be sent home with um... a very nice gift bag*, and a the facility to receive a favourable report.

* It's not a bribe. It's a gift. The fact that the auditor also happened to overlook some fairly glaring compliance issues in your factory, including the fact that a few of the employees have limbs falling off, is purely a coincidence.
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Re: 5 Realities of Smog So Bad it Blots out the Sun

Postby gisambards » Wed Feb 10, 2016 10:27 pm

I went on a trip to Xi'an last year, and there was some bad smog. It's quite disturbing when breathing tastes horrible. You get a sore throat very quickly as well. Not fun.
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