Monday morning your alarm goes off and you begin to start your day. You look out of the window to realize that it is another hazy sky of polluted air. The high levels of pollution in Beijing are so severe that people are instructed to wear a mask or to remain inside, yet the media does not bring attention to this story often.
The first time I learned about air pollution was in the first grade. My teacher informed us about how important it was to recycle and keeping the earth clean. She even went so far as making our entire class plant a tree in the field behind the school.
Many people are familiar with the tactics used to decrease their carbon footprint, however, the city of Beijing might not be taking those tactics seriously.
It is common for people living in Beijing to sometimes wake up to a smog covering the sky. In some parts of Beijing air quality will rise to five hundred which is the highest level. When the air quality reaches three hundred the Chinese government suggest that people remain inside.
The severe air levels are due to the coal burning power industry. The smog is so thick that people are suggested to wear a mask when outside. It is like waking up and being featured in a science fiction film with the entire city in a dark haze.
This smog covers the Beijing sky many times throughout the year, however, the media only covers this story when world leaders meet to discuss the climate, which is only once a year. One would think because of the severe climate change happening in the world the media would constantly cover the story.
Filmmaker Chai Jing produced a controversial documentary addressing air pollution. She has lived in Beijing her entire life and had not raised many questions about the air pollution and did not even wear a mask. However, after the birth of her daughter she felt the need to do something about the increase severity of the pollution. Her daughter was diagnosed with a benign tumour and had to immediately undergo surgery. She considers her daughter a prisoner because she was kept away for the outdoors most of her first years of life because of the severity of the air pollution.
The Chinese government censors the media controlling what media outlets cover, therefore, many environmental issues such as the smog is not discussed. The Internet has been an outlet for millions to communicate about serious issues. Chinese media outlets are only allowed to cover issues that have an easy solution to fix the problem and severe levels of pollution is no easy fix. This is not to say that every issue discussed through media outlets have an easy solution, but many of the issues do not directly point to the government to implement rules.
After Chai’s controversial documentary was released, a screenshot from a Chinese journalist surfaced showing that the news agency in China told them to stop any publications regarding the documentary. People in Beijing are beginning to be more aware of this environmental issue by downloading various applications to their mobile devises that can track the levels of air quality.
The poor air quality is so severe that there has been over 200,000 premature deaths in the city according to a study conducted by Greenpeace and scientists at Pecking University in 2013.
One would think that with that many premature deaths in cities across China the global media would be all over it, but there seems to be an absence. In America a person cannot go a day without seeing an advertisement about how bad smoking cigarettes is, however, Beijing’s poor air quality is worse than smoking cigarettes, yet the global media fails to consistently communicate the severity of air pollution.
The media covers this issue on the particular days throughout the year when the smog is clearly seen, but why wait until the air quality is that severe? Historically journalists are labelled as the watchdog and their duty is to inform the public about any on-goings happening in institutions and societies, especially, if the circumstances would provoke a response. Journalists must find a way to make the public more concerned about environmental issues.
For years, environmentalists argued that constantly polluting the air will have severe damage on our planet, but many disregard that argument. It is evident that we cannot continue to pollute our earth and not expect to suffer from consequences. However, it is hard to convince the public to focus on something that is not always seen.
The global public is only aware of these issues when it becomes severe, or a major conference with world leaders is happening. The most convenient forum for citizens in Beijing to voice their concerns is through social media, although, this information is labelled as unofficial. The government censors social media user’s resources therefore they label their concerns as unofficial and not accurate.
Many still voice their opinions and sometimes are able to bypass the restrictions on the Internet. Through this forum the global public is able to see the reactions from the citizens in Beijing. Some citizens even joke about the smog, perhaps they choose to joke because they know their opinions will not spark any political movement from the government or increase any journalistic coverage.
This is not the first time the smog has hit China and it will not be the last. The media must figure out a way to make the public care about the environment, however, it might be difficult for outlets to see the citizens’ concerns with the restrictions of the internet in China.
In the efforts to engage the Chinese public about environmental issues, Green Public Sphere is a forum created to discuss the environment. The Internet has allowed this forum to flourish and might be the first of many steps to engage the public with information about the environment. However, many people might not be familiar with this forum, perhaps due to the lack of media coverage on environmental issues.
This forum is a great tool to address the ongoing issue of poor air quality but because this forum was created in China some of the information is censored. Information such as data and analysis of the poor air quality is banned from publication. This puts many people at a disadvantage from communicating important information to other citizens.
The global media must learn how to focus and get the global public engaged on environmental issues other than just one day out of the year when there is a conference.
China is an example of how detrimental it can be to continue to pollute the Earth. This smog is not going away unless major action is done to stop it and that means the increase of media, coverage to inform people over the world about environmental issues.
However, in the media we know that major media outlets are in business only by keeping viewers, and to keep viewers engaged you must be discussing war, bloodshed, or something graphic that keeps the attention of the viewer.
Unfortunately, when it comes to environmental issues, there must be something severe happening or something that the viewers can actually see like the smog in China, for people to pay attention.
The first time I learned about air pollution was in the first grade. My teacher informed us about how important it was to recycle and keeping the earth clean. She even went so far as making our entire class plant a tree in the field behind the school.
Many people are familiar with the tactics used to decrease their carbon footprint, however, the city of Beijing might not be taking those tactics seriously.
It is common for people living in Beijing to sometimes wake up to a smog covering the sky. In some parts of Beijing air quality will rise to five hundred which is the highest level. When the air quality reaches three hundred the Chinese government suggest that people remain inside.
The severe air levels are due to the coal burning power industry. The smog is so thick that people are suggested to wear a mask when outside. It is like waking up and being featured in a science fiction film with the entire city in a dark haze.
This smog covers the Beijing sky many times throughout the year, however, the media only covers this story when world leaders meet to discuss the climate, which is only once a year. One would think because of the severe climate change happening in the world the media would constantly cover the story.
Filmmaker Chai Jing produced a controversial documentary addressing air pollution. She has lived in Beijing her entire life and had not raised many questions about the air pollution and did not even wear a mask. However, after the birth of her daughter she felt the need to do something about the increase severity of the pollution. Her daughter was diagnosed with a benign tumour and had to immediately undergo surgery. She considers her daughter a prisoner because she was kept away for the outdoors most of her first years of life because of the severity of the air pollution.
The Chinese government censors the media controlling what media outlets cover, therefore, many environmental issues such as the smog is not discussed. The Internet has been an outlet for millions to communicate about serious issues. Chinese media outlets are only allowed to cover issues that have an easy solution to fix the problem and severe levels of pollution is no easy fix. This is not to say that every issue discussed through media outlets have an easy solution, but many of the issues do not directly point to the government to implement rules.
After Chai’s controversial documentary was released, a screenshot from a Chinese journalist surfaced showing that the news agency in China told them to stop any publications regarding the documentary. People in Beijing are beginning to be more aware of this environmental issue by downloading various applications to their mobile devises that can track the levels of air quality.
The poor air quality is so severe that there has been over 200,000 premature deaths in the city according to a study conducted by Greenpeace and scientists at Pecking University in 2013.
One would think that with that many premature deaths in cities across China the global media would be all over it, but there seems to be an absence. In America a person cannot go a day without seeing an advertisement about how bad smoking cigarettes is, however, Beijing’s poor air quality is worse than smoking cigarettes, yet the global media fails to consistently communicate the severity of air pollution.
The media covers this issue on the particular days throughout the year when the smog is clearly seen, but why wait until the air quality is that severe? Historically journalists are labelled as the watchdog and their duty is to inform the public about any on-goings happening in institutions and societies, especially, if the circumstances would provoke a response. Journalists must find a way to make the public more concerned about environmental issues.
For years, environmentalists argued that constantly polluting the air will have severe damage on our planet, but many disregard that argument. It is evident that we cannot continue to pollute our earth and not expect to suffer from consequences. However, it is hard to convince the public to focus on something that is not always seen.
The global public is only aware of these issues when it becomes severe, or a major conference with world leaders is happening. The most convenient forum for citizens in Beijing to voice their concerns is through social media, although, this information is labelled as unofficial. The government censors social media user’s resources therefore they label their concerns as unofficial and not accurate.
Many still voice their opinions and sometimes are able to bypass the restrictions on the Internet. Through this forum the global public is able to see the reactions from the citizens in Beijing. Some citizens even joke about the smog, perhaps they choose to joke because they know their opinions will not spark any political movement from the government or increase any journalistic coverage.
This is not the first time the smog has hit China and it will not be the last. The media must figure out a way to make the public care about the environment, however, it might be difficult for outlets to see the citizens’ concerns with the restrictions of the internet in China.
In the efforts to engage the Chinese public about environmental issues, Green Public Sphere is a forum created to discuss the environment. The Internet has allowed this forum to flourish and might be the first of many steps to engage the public with information about the environment. However, many people might not be familiar with this forum, perhaps due to the lack of media coverage on environmental issues.
This forum is a great tool to address the ongoing issue of poor air quality but because this forum was created in China some of the information is censored. Information such as data and analysis of the poor air quality is banned from publication. This puts many people at a disadvantage from communicating important information to other citizens.
The global media must learn how to focus and get the global public engaged on environmental issues other than just one day out of the year when there is a conference.
China is an example of how detrimental it can be to continue to pollute the Earth. This smog is not going away unless major action is done to stop it and that means the increase of media, coverage to inform people over the world about environmental issues.
However, in the media we know that major media outlets are in business only by keeping viewers, and to keep viewers engaged you must be discussing war, bloodshed, or something graphic that keeps the attention of the viewer.
Unfortunately, when it comes to environmental issues, there must be something severe happening or something that the viewers can actually see like the smog in China, for people to pay attention.