Is US air quality ever as bad as in Shanghai? (photos)

Shanghai skyline with gray skies hinting at PM2.5 dust air pollution. Image: Wikimedia/Creative Commons

Langham Yangtze Boutique, Shanghai. Photo: d’n’c, Flickr, Creative Commons

Pudong district of Shanghai as viewed from the Bund. Image: seto_supraenergy/Creative Commons 2

Yet another evening of bad Los Angeles air quality

We won’t bore our readers by pointing out that last night [January 29, 2014] was yet another “Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups” bad air quality day in Los Angeles. (Sensitive Groups includes those athletically inclined.) You can read about the trials and tribulations of our air purifiers from previous days this week and this month.

“Lower your standards!”

We had a comment exchange on a social media site with someone in Shanghai regarding China’s consideration of spraying water from skyscrapers. China hopes this can bring PM2.5 down to 35 micrograms per cubic meter. We point out this is at the US 24-hour average but still way above the US annual average exposure limit (but below where it has sometimes been in Los Angeles recently). We previously discussed this new technology, and whether it should be applied in the U.S.

“Lower (weaken) your standards!” was the response from a commentor in Shanghai. Shanghais air pollution apparently hasn’t touched 50 in weeks, and topped out around 115 micrograms per cubic meter recently. (Today was an EPA action day in Los Angeles, and we have been approach 50 micrograms several times in the last week. The screenshot of our app showing “Unhealthy” conditions was taken back in October 2013, when outdoor PM 2.5 air quality as determined by  our free app hovered around 115 micrograms in our location for a few hours. While those disconcerting conditions aren’t as everyday or prolonged as in Shanghai, we still say Los Angelinos can look the people of Shanghai in the eye when it comes to air pollution. Although the debate sort of reminds us of someone from Moscow bragging their weather is more extreme than that of Chicago; it’s not clear if that’s something worth bragging about. It’s import to remember that good, clean air which you can achieve your home through simple steps like air purifiers, properly managed through monitoring devices such as those supported by our app, has anywhere from a 1/10 to 1/100 these outdoor levels of dust and allergans.

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