【外交政策 20131203】满目疮痍的雾霾

满仓

【中文标题】满目疮痍的雾霾
【原文标题】The Desolation of Smog
【登载媒体】外交政策
【原文作者】J. DANA STUSTER、CATHERINE A. TRAYWICK
【原文链接】http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/12/03/desolation_of_smog_china_london_pollution


60年前的伦敦比今天北京的污染更加严重。

1952年12月5日，一阵浓雾在伦敦的街头散开，笼罩了整个城市。这并不是冬日常见的雾气，而是煤厂和伦敦居民炉灶所散发出的有害的二氧化硫。大雾持续了5天，能见度降低到几英尺，汽车纷纷停驶，警察不得不使用军用照明弹指挥车辆停靠在路边。这是“这个国家最严重的污染灾难”，也是历史上最致命的浓雾。据《英国每日电讯》的报道，它的威力在“棺材店和花店中的商品全部售罄时，才真正让人意识到”。接下来的三个月里，大约1.3万人死于呼吸系统综合症。

伦敦大雾的阴霾场景与如今中国大城市污染最严重的时候极为相似。尽管中国从未有过伦敦那4天的悲惨经历，但它的污染问题依然挥之不去，而且愈演愈烈。2010年，空气污染造成中国120万人死亡。从1981年到2001年，大城市的颗粒物浓度比1970年之前的美国高出5倍。而且情况在以惊人的速度恶化。据国际卫生组织提供的数据，2009年中国城市哈尔滨的污染颗粒物浓度达到每米101微克。4年之后的2013年10月，颗粒物浓度增长了10倍，创下了新的纪录。

本周环境保护局的新负责人Gina McCarthy说她将与中国的合作伙伴会面讨论污染问题，同时提到，这不仅仅是中国面对的挑战，西方也存在毒性污染问题。她在12月2日星期一说：“我们经历过这些问题。”比较让人思考，下面是一些照片的比较——伦敦的雾霾和中国的雾霾。


左图：10月21日，一个女人在中国长春的街头，一场浓雾让企业、学校和道路关闭。右图：1953年11月，伦敦的一个女人带着保护性口罩，这个城市致命性的雾霾已经过去了将近一年。


伦敦的大雾伴随（冷空气）席卷城市的街道，并且在上方暖空气之下停留不去。PM2.5——每立方米空气中直径大于2.5微米的颗粒物数量，是空气污染程度的通用衡量标准——攀升到1600，中国即使在污染最严重的天气里也没有达到这个程度。或许中国雾霾与伦敦最接近的一次是东北部城市、有1000万人口的哈尔滨所遭遇的天气。10月份，PM2.5攀升到1000，整个城市陷入停顿，关闭了学校、机场和高速公路。上图，1月23日，北京居民乘坐公共汽车穿过浓雾弥漫的街道。下图，1952年12月5日，公共汽车行驶过伦敦丽晶街圣诞节购物的人群。


1952年的大雾让英国在1956年制定了清洁空气法令，也引导了美国的立法走向。在纽约，污染逐渐成为一个严重的问题。1963年，人们认为致命的雾霾导致了200人的死亡，1966人死亡人数又增加了168人。这些事件推动国会成立了环境保护局，并且通过了标志性的清洁空气法案。就和今天的中国一样，大部分的污染来源于烧煤，少部分来源于城市内的交通，比如洛杉矶。McCarthy said谈到环保局与中国的合作时说：“我们知道计划的意义所在，我们知道政府可以采取哪些措施。在中国问题比较严重的省份，这些知识可以解决紧急的问题。我对此很有希望，因为我知道这些方法在美国都取得了成功。”左图：1月14日，摩托车的大灯穿过合肥的浓雾。右图：1952年12月5日，伦敦的浓雾造成了交通停滞。


美国设定了每天接触污染物数量的上限——根据环境保护局的标准，在PM2.5浓度超过35的空气中呼吸超过24小时将对人体造成伤害。这个数字在韩国、日本和欧洲甚至更低。但是在中国，即使PM2.5浓度超过100，空气质量也被划分为“良好”。2012年6月，中国环境保护部的一位部长说，被扭曲的度量标准“是考虑到我们目前的发展阶段因素”，他指的是这个国家工业发展对煤炭的依赖。美国在中国的领事馆开始监控污染级别，并发布了对健康造成严重伤害的污染指数。这引起了中国环境保护部的强烈反应，他们谴责美国违反了国际法律。左图：2009年1月10日，一名中国保安站在浓雾中的景山公园煤山上的一个亭子里。右图：1952年，一名英国警察带着口罩站在马路中间。


1952年伦敦的大雾甚至渗透到建筑物里，导致剧院的演出被取消。护士们说无法看到医院走廊的尽头。上图：1月23日，一个男人带着口罩乘坐北京的地铁。下图：1952年12月8日，乘客为了躲避浓雾造成的交通堵塞，在被大雾笼罩的地铁站台上等车。


美国尝试过各种方法来应对中国猖獗的空气污染现象，有些方式——比如测量并发布中国致命的空气质量指数——激怒了北京。尽管美国并未停止发布这些污染指数，但它也开始采用一些不那么尖酸刻薄的手段。Gina McCarthy在周一前往中国之前说：“环保局与中国的环保部有深入的合作关系。中国的环保部知道他们面临严重的空气质量挑战，他们很早就知道，我们也知道。在过去15年里，我们一直与他们合作，寻找解决空气质量问题的方法。”她还说，美国很胜任这项工作，因为美国自己也“曾经面临这些挑战”。的确如此。中国的空气质量或许令人窒息，但美国的一些城市在几十年前也曾被污染的黑毯子仅仅包围。在40年代和50年代，匹兹堡的街灯在白天也被点亮，为了照明被烧煤的钢厂所排放出的烟雾挡住光线的街道。除了纽约60年代著名的雾霾事件，宾夕法尼亚州工业小镇多诺拉在1948年10月的一起严重污染事件，导致1.4万名居民中的20人死亡，其他人染病。上图：1月23日，一个男人带着口罩在北京街头等待公共汽车。下图：1952年12月7日，伦敦一个水果摊的灯光照亮了浓雾中的皮卡迪利广场。


中国政府在2013年9月实施了新的控污染措施，包括降低中国工业城镇附近的燃煤数量，目标是在5年里降低10%的PM2.5浓度。即使达成这个目标，按国际标准衡量的雾霾水平依然是有害的。左图：10月22日，中国哈尔滨的行人戴口罩防止吸入有毒的雾霾。右图：1953年11月17日的伦敦。


中国的污染对东亚和美国都造成了严重的影响。来自中国的毒霾横跨太平洋，影响了韩国、日本，甚至远道加利福尼亚州的空气。左图：10月21日，哈尔滨一个男人推着自行车走上台阶，台阶下方消失在弥漫的雾气中。右图：1954年11月18日，伦敦黑衣修士桥上的行人戴着口罩防止吸入雾气。


左图：1月29日，大连附近的火车消失在雾气中。右图：1959年1月29日，乘客观看雾气中伦敦利物浦车站的告示牌。


上图：6月5日，北京的天际线几乎不可见。下图：2011年4月22日，伦敦的空气污染依然持续。



原文：

On Dec. 5, 1952, a thick layer of fog settled over the streets of London, blanketing the city. This was no ordinary wintery mist, but rather a noxious haze of sulfur dioxide from coal-fired industrial factories and cookstoves in London homes. London's Great Smog hung in the air for five consecutive days; visibility was reduced to mere feet and cars were abandoned or led off the road by police with traffic flares. It was the "nation's worst air pollution disaster" and remains the deadliest smog event on record. According to the Telegraph, the devastation the smog wrought "only became apparent when undertakers reported that they were running out of coffins and florists had sold all their flowers." In the following three months, an estimated 13,000 people died of respiratory complications.

The hazy scenes of London's Great Smog bear a striking resemblence to modern-day images of China's urban centers on their most polluted days. And though China has never had an event to match those four days in London, its pollution problem is persistent and pervasive. In 2010, air pollution contributed to 1.2 million deaths in China. Between 1981 and 2001, particulate levels in its major cities were five times greater than what the United States experienced before 1970. And the problem is worsening at an incredible rate. In 2009, the concentration of particulate pollution in the Chinese city of Harbin averaged 101 micrograms per meter, according to the World Health Organization. Four years later, in October 2013, levels were up tenfold, a new record.  

This week, Gina McCarthy, the new head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), said she would be meeting with partners in China in the coming days to address air pollution issues, but was careful to stress that this is not an challenge limited to China. The West, too, has faced hazardous pollution. "We have been there before," she said on Monday, Dec. 2. The comparison bears consideration; what follows is a series of photo pairings -- smog in London then, and in China now.  

Above left, a woman in Changchun, China walks along a road on Oct. 21, in a dense smog that forced business, school, and road closures. On the right, a woman in London wears a protective mask in Nov. 1953 during a smog episode nearly a year after the city's deadly Great Smog.

London's Great Smog rolled into city's streets on a "mass of cold air," and remained, trapped by a layer of warmer air above. PM 2.5 -- the mass, in micrograms, of particles larger than 2.5 micrometers in a cubic centimeter, a common measure of hazardous air pollution -- rocketed to 1,600, a record China has yet to approach even on its worst days.

Perhaps the closest China has come was the smog that settled over Harbin, a city of 10 million people in northeast China, in October. As PM 2.5 climbed to 1,000, the city effectively shut down, closing schools, airports, and highways.

Above top, Beijing residents ride a bus through smoggy streets on Jan. 23. Below, a bus passes Christmas shoppers on London's Regent Street, on Dec. 5, 1952.

The Great Smog of 1952 prompted Britain's 1956 Clean Air Act, which led to legislation in the United States. In New York, in particular, pollution had become a major problem: particularly deadly clouds of smog were blamed for 200 deaths in 1963 and 168 more in 1966. These events were pivotal in motivating Congress to establish the EPA and pass landmark clean air laws. Like China today, most of that pollution was caused by burning coal and, to a lesser extent, by heavy traffic in cities like Los Angeles.

"We know what planning can do," McCarthy said of the EPA's work with China. "We know there are many ways in which you can engage your states, and in China's case provinces, to bring a sense of urgency to this issue."

"I am hopeful," she said. "One of the reasons I am hopeful is that I know what we've been able to accomplish in the United States."

Above left, a moped headlight cuts through the haze in Hefei, China, on Jan. 14. On the right, traffic is halted by smog on Dec. 5, 1952 in London.

The United States has set limits on the amount of pollution for daily exposure -- breathing air with PM 2.5 of more than 35 for 24 hours is hazardous, according to the EPA's guidelines. That number is even lower in South Korea, Japan, and the European Union. But in China, air quality is classifies as "good" even as PM 2.5 levels creep up toward 100. The skewed metric "takes into account the level of our current stage of development," a minister at China's Ministry of Environmental Protection said in June 2012, referring to the country's industrial reliance on coal.

U.S. consulates in China have started monitoring pollution levels and releasing the readings at levels considered a serious health hazard. That has drawn sharp rebukes from China's Ministry of Environmental Protection, which accused the United States of violating international law.  

Above left, a Chinese security guard stands amid dense smog at the pavillion on Coal Hill in Jingshan Park, Beijing, on Jan. 10, 2009. On the right, a British police officer wears a face mask while standing in a road in London in 1952.  

The smog in 1952 London was so dense that it seeped into buildings, causing theater performances to be canceled. Nurses reportedly could not see the length of hospital corridors.

Above top, a man wears a face mask aboard a subway car while commuting in Beijing on Jan. 23. Below, commuters trying to escape traffic caused by smog wait for the London Underground on a subway platform obscured by haze on Dec. 8, 1952.

The United States has tried a variety of tacks in dealing with China's rampant air pollution, and some measures -- like measuring and publicizing China's deadly air quality -- have clearly irked Beijing. Though the United States hasn't stopped reporting its pollution readings, it's also trying a honey-not-vinegar approach.

"EPA and the Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) in China have a deep and strong relationship," Gina McCarthy said Monday, ahead of her trip to China. "MEP in China knows they are facing significant air quality challenges. They have known that for some time. We have known that as well. For the past 15 years, we have been working with them in depth on ways of addressing their air quality challenges." The United States is well-suited to the task, McCarthy said, because the United States has itself "faced these challenges."

And it's true. China's air quality may be deadly but so, too, were the dark blankets of pollution that hung over major American cities just a few decades ago. In the 1940s and 1950s, streetlamps in Pittsburgh were left on during the day due to illuminate streets that were often darkened by smog from coal-fired steel plants. In addition to the deadly smog episodes in New York in the 1960s, a severe event in the mill town of Donora, PA, in October 1948 killed 20 of the town's 14,000 residents and left half of the survivors ill.

Above top, a man wearing a face mask waits for a bus in Beijing on Jan. 23. Below, the light from a fruit seller's stall illuminates the smog in Piccadilly Circus, London, on Dec. 7, 1952.

The Chinese government proposed ambitious new anti-pollution measures in September 2013, including reducing the burning of coal near China's industrial hubs, that aim to lower PM 2.5 by 10 percent over five years. Even with the reduction, though, smog levels would remain hazardous according to international standards.

Above, pedestrians wear masks to prevent breathing noxious smog -- on the left, in Harbin, China on Oct. 22, and on the right, in London on Nov. 17, 1953.

Chinese pollution has serious consequences for East Asia and the United States. Clouds of smog from China have been tracked across the Pacific, affecting air quality in South Korea and Japan, and even as far as California.

Above left, a man walks a bicycle up a flight of stairs that descend into a gloom of smog in Harbin, China, on Oct. 21. On the right, pedestrians in Blackfriars, London, wear masks to prevent inhaling smog on Nov. 18, 1954.

Above left, a train emerges from smog near Dalian, China, on Jan. 29. On the right, passengers read the departures board through a smoggy haze in Liverpool Street Station, London, on Jan. 29, 1959.

Above top, the Beijing skyline is barely visible on June 5. Below, the persistence of London's air pollution is evident on a smoggy April 22, 2011.

爱哲123

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