Human-Environment Interaction: Environmental Issue

Country: China
Problem: Air Pollution
Air pollution is a type of pollution that affects the air. It poisons the air with various particles
that can possible make humans and animals sick, or even receive a disease that could make them
die. (Citation: https://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/airpollution.html)
Causes: 60% of Chinas energy source comes from coal. And due to the coal being burnt and their
gases spreading around China, it causes more than just simple air pollution.
Due to the large amount of air pollution, breathing one hour of air in Beijing can short the
breathers lifespan by twenty minutes. That equals to people smoking 1.5 cigarettes each hour. And
since the problem occurred, the rate of people suffering lung cancer in Beijing has nearly doubled
during the span of 2002 until 2011. Not only that, but the pollution causes around 4.000 deaths each
day, since it can cause asthma, heart attacks, lung cancer, etc.
The air pollution problem itself has managed to force China to cover up the problem. China has tried
numerous times to cover up the fact that the air was killing their citizens. The Chinese government
has once censored a claim from the World Bank that thousands of people died. The media even tried
to convince its audience that there were surprising benefits to the toxin that is within their air.
(Citation: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-08-13/china-air-pollution-kills-4-000-people-a-dayresearchers )

Solution: Making Sprinklers in top of buildings to Water the Atmosphere

A geo engineering researcher named Shaocai Yu has made an idea that can decrease air pollution in
China. He says that they should try to use sprinklers to water the atmosphere, just like how you
would water your garden. The sprinklers, according to him, should be placed on top of high buildings
so that the water can reach the atmosphere. Yu believes that his scheme could reduce the amount
of fine particulate (the dangerous particle that is within the polluted air) in the atmosphere around
major cities to 35 micrograms per cubic meter. That is a level much safer than the 500 micrograms
per cubic meter previously recorded in Beijing. (Citation: http://www.ibtimes.com/solution-chinas-airpollution-problem-roof-sprinklers-could-clean-atmosphere-watering-garden-1530544)

The graph contains information

about the air pollution in the
major cities of China.
Citation:

(http://www.eng.utoledo.edu/)

The before (above) and after

(below) of Beijings air when
became polluted.
(http://edition.cnn.com/)

A graph about the air in Beijing

depending on the time of the day.
(http://phys.org/)