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01/26/13
The Color of Air
Filed under: General
Posted by: @ 2:48 pm

PC080037

I didn’t think much about air in the states, maybe a few
high ozone days in Chicago or when driving through Gary, Indiana.

But in China?

You check the air pollutant forecast in the morning along
with the weather.


At  http://www.aqicn.info/, you can download a
widget for your computer so you can decide if you want to breathe or not.


Just like Skittles, there’s a rainbow of air quality. If
the city’s widget is yellow or green, you don’t have to hold your breath.


Since Kunming is located on a mountaintop plateau in Yunnan–hugging
the shores of Lake Dianchi–the air widget is usually in the lemon yellow lime green
zone. Beijing is usually in the raspy raspberry
zone but lately, it’s
been off the charts and in the Twizzler black licorice land.

You’re supposed to wear a face mask on days when the air looks
like pumpkin soup, but not the cute Sponge Bob type.  


You are recommended to go to pharmacist and pick up
an N95 mask. It is not a fashion statement by any means.


http://www.greenpeace.org/eastasia/campaigns/air-pollution/problems/coal-hard-truth-air-pollution/


The funny thin is, many of these masks are made in China, probably in a
factory that spews out the air-poo.


Meanwhile,
there are things in the air that make it hard to breathe in the fresh air of Kunming:

Stinky Tofu and
 Traditional Chinese Medicine herbs.
Students pop garlic pills like skittles to ward away sickness in the winter.

I think they work.


My classroom
reeks of garlic and none of my students are absent.


And none of
them want to kiss each other.


 

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