Note: While most of the content on our research group blog relates to our group’s academic and extracurricular activities, this post begins a new category for us: Current Events/Activism. Peng Xie starts this category off by informing us about air pollution issues in China. While not directly related to our group’s field, we feel this is an environmental topic worth discussing. –david
A few weeks ago an air pollution documentary named Under the Dome swept the Internet in China. Given the dire air pollution problem and the increasing concern of public health, the documentary has achieved unprecedented popularity: it had been played over 200M times in the first 5 days after its release. Because of the documentary, air pollution became the pinnacle of Chinese domestic attention. Additionally, the aftershock of this documentary was also visible at the stock market; the corporations blamed for being behind the air pollution underwent a substantial drop while environmental technology companies saw big gains. The documentary addressed questions such as the origin, severity, and consequences of air pollution in an emotional and scientific way. It set a very successful example of conveying scientific data to the public.
The documentary pointed out that the overconsumption and poor quality of coal and oil were the leading cause of the air pollution and the author took an additional step exploring why the regulations have been incapable of stopping or even curbing the problems. By trying to peeling off the mystery of what contributed to air pollution, the documentary raised many astonishing points, such as the questionable selection of legislation committees on oil quality and automobile exhaust regulations. It was revealed that the majority of the committee members were working for or in favor of the oil industry, which made the voice of opposition powerless. The regulations themselves were also to blame in that they failed to specify who was empowered to enforce the environmental laws. The confusion (deliberate or unintended) resulted in a lack of action by the government body to prevent the recent air pollution problems.
China was not the only country who suffered or is suffering from air pollution. London and Los Angles are two famous examples of how a city ridden with toxic fogs successfully reversed the pollution. In the end, the documentary showed how China could learn from the transition that those two cities made by comparing their similarities and differences. The documentary also showed how normal citizens could contribute to the battle against the air pollution.
The documentary received monumental amounts of praise and criticism from around China, which sparked many heated debates among scholars and ordinary citizens. Even though it is banned currently in China, the influence is still growing and reaching every corner of the country.
In case you are interested, here is the YouTube link with English Subtitles: