Illustration: Peter C. Espina/GT
I want to share what my friends have been up to recently, other than complaining about the bad air quality. One friend gave up his consulting business and opened an online store selling PM 2.5 masks. I'm pretty sure his business is booming. Another friend tried to convince us to invest money by buying stocks of air purifier manufacturers. Another friend learned that the US Embassy in Beijing was using Blueair Air Purifiers, so snatched one up before they went out of stock. Another friend resumed smoking, reasoning we are all doomed anyway. Another friend started a competition on Wechat, seeking the most stylish air filter mask.
I don't know when good air quality became a luxury. A harsh reality has presented itself: If you don't guard yourself with a futuristic mask on the street and a high-tech machine at home, you are going to suffer from a sore throat, painful eyes and a shortness of breath. You will never know how the smog has affected you years down the road, because it is affecting everyone else at the same time. The smog is everyone's problem, but you have to suffer any bad health effects on your own.
The other day, my friend the geeky scientist explained to me the causes of Beijing's recent smogocalypse. The first reason is that in the middle of each November, Beijing's central heating system fires up. The coal-fired systems lead to airborne pollutants in Beijing, placing a bigger burden on the city's ever-deteriorating environment. The second reason is less obvious and harder to measure. My friend believes that there is an organizational problem at the heart of the crisis. Tackling China's environmental problems will require a joint effort from different departments in the government. This means that some departments' interests will be compromised.
What really annoys me about the whole situation is that we in this nation always take an onlooker attitude toward things that relate to our own well being, as if it is all happening to someone else. The desire to reap short-term gains from the high-rolling economy at the expense of long-term sustainable development goes against the will of the common people, who cannot buy foreign air cleaners or send their children to places where the air is clean. It has led to a mountain of environmental hazards so high that moving it now seems hopeless to most people.
Are we testing how far we can push Mother Nature before she strikes back with a fatal blow? Why, every time, does this lesson have to be learned the hard way? Departments responsible for different functions have to work together to take preventive measures, putting aside their own interests. After all, in the end, if they hold on to the stubborn mentality that the problem is outside the jurisdiction (and responsibility), their deepest interests will be hurt.
Instead of putting on air mask beauty contests, we should ask the government to return the clean air to us. We should require officials to show us what they are doing to end this environmental nightmare, before it's too late.
This article was published on the Global Times Metropolitan section Two Cents page, a space for reader submissions, including opinion, humor and satire. The ideas expressed are those of the author alone, and do not represent the position of the Global Times.
