Smog in China

The smog in Nanjing can get pretty bad and it is as unpredictable as the weather. It has been the most depressing thing about China that I've seen so far. It is not so bad on windy days, and cold weather seems to dampen it somehow, but when its wet and warm it gets so thick the visibility is less than a kilometer. 

Now you see it...

...Now you don't.

How often is it this smoggy? Not very often; but it is usually a little smoggy, and when I say a little smoggy, I mean smoggy enough to shut down any city in the USA and start a riot. Last month there was a thick spell of smog for about ten days; I don't think I saw a blue sky for two weeks, and it wasn't cloudy or anything, the sky was just full of burnt particulate matter.

There's a lot of coughing going on in China. I know several people here who have asthma whereas in the States I didn't know anyone else who had it, save one. Some people wear respirators and I've thought about getting one myself, but I already stick out too much for comfort. 

When I was in college, all the talk about environmental ethics and sustainability seemed like hype to me or some kind of trend. But now that I've lived in a place with a serious pollution problem (you've got to boil the water before you drink it, as well), and felt that trapped, suffocating feeling smog tends to inspire, I think differently. 

If you want a nice description of what smog is and what it does to your health, look up "PM 2.5" on Wikipedia.