China Needs Smog-Free Air in a Can

Air pollution is so bad in China due to the constant burning of fossil fuels as a result of the many industries there. Because of this, an environmentalist came up with a crazy idea – putting clean are in a can. Last week, when a thick gray haze blanketed Beijing and several other Chinese cities, sending kids to the hospital, grounding planes and causing the government to order cars off the road, Chen Guangbiao took to the streets in Beijing to hand out yellow and green cans of smog-free, non-carcinogenic air.

It is said that such creative and public protests should help push forward much-needed national reforms to combat air pollution in the country. Although the clean air in a can was fake, it was used to emphasize how dangerous China’s smoggy air is.

The pollution during the 2013 Great Smog of China was so thick last month that it was visible from space. Breathing in Beijing was “akin to living in a smoking lounge,” according to an analysis from Bloomberg. Fixing China’s air pollution is not just about the country’s image or economy, although those certainly suffer because of smog, too. It’s about the right of all humans to walk outside and breathe in air that won’t choke them or make them sick.

More than 200 students at a Beijing high school school signed a petition asking the city to “amend air quality regulations and take specific emergency measures,” according to Calum MacLeod from USA Today. And on Weibo, China’s version of Twitter, Pan Shiyi, a real estate magnate, called for the country to adopt its own Clean Air Act. Almost everyone who responded was in support of this legislation.

It is clear what needs to be done: China has to reduce its reliance on coal, increase renewable energy, regulate the amount of smog-causing sulfur that can go into its diesel fuel and increase vehicle efficiency. After all, China burns as much coal as nearly the rest of the world combined.

The people of China need to realize that they need to ensure that the public and the government see that clean air is worth the cost, no matter how much it is.