China’s Greenest and Most Polluted City Tackling Air Polluon in Baoding Vishnu Nair, Manjekar Budhai, Joshua Chu, Jason Yu — Macaulay Honors College at the City College of New York Instructor: Dr. Angelo Lampousis, Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, City College of New York, City University of New York

MEET BAODING CURRENT SOLUTIONS CHALLENGES TO REMEDIATION

Located about 100 miles southwest of the Chinese capital of Beijing is the city of The Chinese government has taken steps over the years to remediate the polluon in However, there are many challenges we must overcome, they include: Baoding. A city of 11 million people, Baoding has a rich history. It was destroyed by Baoding, they include: • A cyclic socioeconomic problem: Baoding is an economically troubled area that is the Mongols in the 13th century and then rebuilt aer the establishment of the Yuan • The closing down of tradional factories.12 dependent on tradional industries. Therefore, by closing down these tradional Dynasty. It was during this me that the city acquired the name “Baoding,” which • The issuing of measures that require beer regional air-quality planning and factories, Baoding’s economy will be set to take a nosedive.5 roughly translates into “protecng the capital,” due to its close proximity to Beijing. specific polluon-reducon targets.4 • Government: We are not sure if the Chinese federal, provincial, and local It was also, at a point in me, the capital of Hebei province and was even occupied by • The implementaon of “low-carbon pilot zones,” that were set up to clean up governments will be open to the change we propose. For one, we are proposing Japan during the Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945).6 Baoding is known for originang “dirty” industries.10 tax breaks that translate into a loss of money for the government. In addion, it is “Baoding Balls” (which are similar to stress balls) and is also known for its specialty However, these steps have proven to be ineffecve in remediang the situaon.11 possible that the owners of these tradional factories have some influence with “donkey burgers.”2 the government. Baoding's 2013 Gross Domesc Product Breakdown • The Chinese government also has a history of censorship when it comes to educang cizens on the dangers of polluon.7 Renewable Energy Service • Baoding in Ambivalence: We are dealing with a city that is both green AND 20% 32% polluted. It is possible that many see these turbine factories and think that Baoding is in an environmentally excellent posion. • When asked the queson, “What do you think of Baoding’s current

Tradional Industry condion?” many people from Baoding will respond by saying that they do ▲ Baoding’s locaon in China (le) and the enre city of Baoding (right, outlined in red). and Construcon Agriculture not see anything wrong with the city and that the city is as clean as it can be.5 (Source: Google Maps) 35% 13% THE PROBLEM WITH BAODING

However, beneath Baoding’s rich culture lies a serious problem: air polluon. In February of 2015, the Chinese Ministry of Environmental Protecon declared Source: aqicn.org Total GDP (RMB billion): 265.06 Baoding the most air-polluted city in China.3 This is in contrast to just a few years back in 2011 when Business Insider called Baoding “The Greenest City in the World.”8 It houses some of the biggest manufacturers of blades for wind turbine generators in OUR PROPOSED SOLUTIONS China as well as the largest manufacturer of photovoltaic cells in the enre world, We propose a mul-faceted approach to remediang the situaon in Baoding. Our Yingli Solar. This polluon has garnered a bad reputaon for Baoding, which is oen general approach calls for clean/renewable energy companies to buy up tradional 5 factories and do one of the following: blamed for “airpocalypses” (bouts of heavy polluon) in nearby Beijing. ▲ Forecasted PM2.5 Levels in Northeastern China (as of November 19, 2015). (Source: aqicn.org) Baoding’s polluon stems from several problems which include: • Clean up abandoned factories/sites and put them to beer use. AQI Air Polluon Level Health Implicaons 0-50 Good Air quality is considered sasfactory, and air polluon poses lile or no risk. • The presence of tradional factories that manufacture for “dirty” industries (e.g. • Clean up the current output of tradional/modern factories. 51-100 Moderate Air quality is acceptable. Pollutants may pose a slight health risk for very sensive groups. 11 car, cement, and steel manufacturing). However, in order to go ahead with such an approach, we must convince three 101-150 Mildly Unhealthy Members of sensive groups will experience health effects. • The use of coal-fired steam boilers.1 151-200 Unhealthy Everyone may begin to experience health effects. groups: the renewable energy companies, the Chinese government, and the people 201-300 Very Unhealthy Health warnings of emergency condions. The enre populaon is more likely to be affected. • The misuse of closed-down, abandoned factories (e.g. for burning garbage).11 of Baoding. 300+ Hazardous Health alert: everyone may experience more serious health effects. ▲ • Provide cleanup incenves for renewable energy companies, these include: Air Quality Index Legend (Source: aqicn.org) • Offering tax breaks for these companies. REFERENCES ▲ PM2.5 and PM10 levels over a 5-day period (November 14 to November 19). (Source: aqicn.org) • Making them aware of the influx of workers aer buying up exisng factories. 1. 4% of Chinese cies report clean air. (2014, March 26). China Daily USA. Retrieved 6. Encyclopaedia Britannica. (2010). Baoding (China). In Encyclopaedia Britannica. • Offering beer governmental contracts November 22, 2015, from hp://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/business/2014-03/26/ 7. FlorCruz, M. (2015, March 9). Why Did China Ban 'Under The Dome'? Retrieved content_17380202.htm November 22, 2015, from hp://www.ibmes.com/pulse/why-did-china-ban-under- 2. Chen, T. (2015, February 2). China's New Most Polluted City: Baoding. Retrieved dome-watch-documentary-compared-inconvenient-truth-here-1840642 • Awareness of eventual improvements in internaonal appeal & domesc November 22, 2015, from hp://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealme/2015/02/02/say- 8. Johnson, R. (2011, June 23). Welcome To Baoding: The Greenest City In The World. HEALTH RISKS FROM POLLUTION hello-to-chinas-new-most-polluted-city-baoding/ Retrieved November 22, 2015, from hp://www.businessinsider.com/baoding- public image. 3. China names 10 most polluted cies. (2015, February 2). China Daily USA. Retrieved greenest-carbon-posive-city-in-the-world-2011-6 November 22, 2015, from hp://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2015-02/02/ 9. Kampa M., Castanas E., (2008, January). Human health effects of air polluon. Prolonged exposure to pollutants in the air can lead to many health problems. They • content_19466412.htm Environmental Polluon, Volume 151(Issue 2), pages 362-367. hp://dx.doi.org/ Take a similar approach with the Chinese government. 4. China passes new polluon law, sets sights on coal consumpon cap. (2015, August 10.1016/j.envpol.2007.06.012. 9 29). Reuters. Retrieved November 22, 2015, from hp://www.reuters.com/arcle/ include: 5 10. Qureshi AM, M. (2009, May 5). Low carbon zones: Road to a green future. China • Currently, the whole world sees China as an extremely polluted country. 2015/08/29/us-china-polluon-idUSKCN0QY08A20150829#mUp1QdFcmYbTwOcE. Daily. 97 • Upper respiratory irritaon 11. Stanway, D. (2014, May 13). Polluon plagues China's Baoding despite bid to clean Cleaning up Baoding would make internaonal news and improve China’s 5. Duggan, J. (2015, May 22). Welcome to Baoding, China's most polluted city. The up act. Retrieved November 22, 2015, from hp://www.reuters.com/arcle/ Guardian (US Edion). Retrieved November 22, 2015, from hp:// 2014/05/13/us-china-environment-baoding- • Chronic respiratory and heart diseases image to the rest of the world. Doing so would also cement China’s posion www.theguardian.com/cies/2015/may/22/baoding-china-most-polluted-city-air- idUSKBN0DT21Z20140513#pkRD6sctTAwbFk.97 polluon-beijing-hebei • Lung cancer in the world as one of the leaders in environmental cleanup. 12. The cost of clean air. (2015, February 7). The Economist. • Acute respiratory infecons • Educate the cizens of Baoding: • Chronic bronchis • On the negave health effects of hazardous air polluon. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS • Aggravaon of exisng condions • About the influx of jobs that would result from the arrival of these clean/ We would like to thank our instructor, Dr. Angelo Lampousis, for his most helpful • Asthma renewable energy companies in Baoding. advising. Likewise, we would also like to thank our fellow MHC 20301 classmates for • Reduced life expectancy ▲ Garbage being burned in the outskirts of their crical analyses of our poster. Baoding. (Photo by: China Stringer Network/Reuters)