Beijing this week passed a big milestone, adding the 4 millionth car to the roads. As this graph shows, the rate of additions have skyrocketed. I’ve collected some good press releases, as well as more scholarly data for air quality junkies to delve into.

I get a lot of questions from expats, especially bikers and people walking to work, who wonder whether any type of mask is helpful. I also bike to work so I was curious as well. We’ve talked a lot about N95 masks for the flu, but how well do they work for pollution?

I’m very pleased to report that today’s China Daily has an interview and article about my website. It’s in the Metro section, lead article, part of a review of the air quality and automobile situation in Beijing. Here is the website link to the article.

We’ve had a series of unhealthy air days this week, and I’ve been trying to raise awareness among the schools to have a good action plan. I was just emailed a nice example of what one local school is doing with each cutoff. I think the actions are reasonable and a good start for other schools …

It’s 9am now; for the last 12 hours the pollution levels (taken hourly at the US Embassy, you can follow at http://iphone.bjair.info) are at EMERGENCY LEVELS. Anything over 300 is considered a public health emergency; right now it is over 500! What this means is that most countries’ public health agencies would be putting out …

I posted a couple weeks ago how serious the air can get around here, and how young children are the most vulnerable. Since then, I received notice of a wonderful new website at iphone.bjair.info. This website collects the hourly Air Quality Index from the US Embassy’s particle monitor. It’s a perfect little website, and I …

As you know, last week’s air quality in Beijing was seriously unhealthy, for all ages and all health levels. At that highest level, most AQI warning systems would recommend that all children and any sick people should have stayed inside, and all school-related outdoor sports should have been cancelled. In my clinic this week, I …

I’ve been writing quite a few posts on air pollution lately, and I decided to get some hands-on data which I’d like to share with everyone. The good folks at IQAir allowed me to borrow one of their handheld particle scanners (see picture below); I then got a week of sample data from a variety …

Last week I presented a slide show at Luce to an interesting new group, the Beijing Healthcare Forum. Led by two Fulbright scholars, this new group of interested expats and local Chinese gets together every two weeks to discuss a variety of health care issues. Last week I discussed one of my pet projects — …

I’ve had a few posts on air pollution in Beijing, including last week’s post on indoor air pollution. Yesterday’s New York Times has a nice review article (link below) about the state of Beijing’s air. Here’s a snippet: …Beijing’s air remains far from pristine by any measure. The average concentration of particulates in city air …

I’ve previously discussed outdoor pollution, a common worry for expats. Less commonly discussed but possibly more concerning is indoor air pollution. It’s important to realize that a poorly ventilated house can have more dangerous air than outdoor air — especially if a smoker lives there. Someone (thanks, Liora!) passed along to me an outstanding review …

The United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) has created a pair of fascinating publications which provide revealing information about the environments in both Shanghai and Beijing. Both reports had focused on preparations for their mega-events the Olympics and now the Expo. It’s interesting stuff, and it helped to answer a question I had: which city has …