air – ThursdayAgain

After Beijing has suffered a fortnight of terrible air pollution, a campaign by a multimillionaire with a streak of showmanship who last year was selling canned fresh air, has restarted.

Chen Guangbiao, who made a fortune in the recycling business, yesterday was handing out cans of air, allegedly from far-off, less polluted, regions of the PRC.

The capital’s air quality is closely watched as it fluctuates from day to day but in the last 2 weeks it has hit (& more worryingly stayed at) readings that are well into the “risk” zone.

Air pollution is measured in terms of PM2.5 (particulate matter 2.5 micrometers in diameter) which are easily absorbed by the lungs & may result in serious heart & lung diseases. WHO (the World Health Organization) recommends a daily PM2.5 level of less than 20 & warns that levels greater than 300 create serious health problems.

Beijing’s air quality frequently tops-out at a level of 500, & on 12th January reached 755, the highest ever recorded.

To help make people more aware of the implications of the poor air quality Chen gave out cans of “Fresh Air”, with a cartoon of himself on the label saying, “Chen Guangbiao is a good man” (nothing like a little hubris to anger the Gods; this is not a man to stand next to during a thunder storm).

Chen concedes that his “tinned-air” effort is a gimmick, but says it’s a way to make people aware of the importance of protecting the environment. His campaign has attracted its share of confusion & ridicule but also serious exposure of the issue in the media.

The cans of air were free yesterday, but usually sell for 5 yuan, with proceeds going to poorer regions in the PRC.

Sales, which had previously been moderate, rocketed after the recent streak of bad air days, with 8 million cans sold in the last 10 days alone, Chen said.

Just think what this man could do in San Fransisco…..