Beijing Entombed in Smog

Hundreds of flights canceled or delayed at Beijing Capital International Airport, as hazardous smog buries Beijing

Thick fog worsened by air pollution has again buried Beijing forcing  the closure of dozens of highways and cancellation of hundreds of flights.

Disaster Calendar 2011 – December 5

[December 5, 2011]  Mass die-offs resulting from human impact and the planetary response to the anthropogenic assault could occur by early 2016.  SYMBOLIC COUNTDOWN: 1,563 Days Left to the ‘Worst Day’ in Human History

• Beijing, China. Thick fog worsened by air pollution has again entombed  Beijing forcing the closure of dozens of highways and cancellation of hundreds of flights.
• “As of 2 p.m. Monday, 207 inbound and outbound flights were canceled at Beijing Capital International Airport, while 126 were delayed for at least one hour,” a report said.
• “Readings by the U.S. Embassy, which measures inhalable particles of 2.5 microns, have described the pollution for days as ‘hazardous’,” according to Reuters.
  
• “On Sunday night, the U.S. Embassy’s index topped its ceiling of 500, and it was 356 on Monday afternoon, a reading that was still considered ‘dangerous’.”
• According to the municipal environmental monitoring center, Beijing’s air pollution index (API) was between 150 and 170 on Monday, a level regarded as ‘moderate’ by Chinese standards, Xinhua reported.
  
• Highways in the provinces of Shandong and Hebei, and Tianjin municipality, have also been closed due to poor visibility, the report said.

Lianhua Bridge in downtown Beijing, China, [14:00? ] Dec. 5, 2011. (Xinhua/Fu Chunrong). More photos …

• China is World No. 1 CO2 Polluter; the US follows closely. [See Report]
• China’s Air Pollution Deadliest in World. [See Report ]
• Pollution kills 750,000 [2.5million] people in China every year. [See Report]
• According to the World bank statistics, China has 16 of the 20 most polluted cities on earth!

Other Global Incidents

• Peru. The Peruvian President, a former army officer, has declared a state of emergency following mass rallies against a major mining project in Cajamarca region, northern Peru.
• The protests, which began 11 days ago, have led to violent clashes between police and demonstrators, leaving dozens of people injured.
• The project plans to divert water from four lakes high in the Andes to reservoirs used for gold-mining .
• The local peasants and local officials in Cajamarca oppose the project due to water shortages in the region, as well as the fear of pollution associated with mining gold.
  
• A drought since late summer has affected the region (population: ~ quarter of a million), which is Peru’s main dairy and livestock hub, forcing water rationing since August.
  
• The Conga gold mine project, worth 4.8 billion dollars, is operated by the US-based Newmont Mining.
  
• The mine sits more than 4,200 meters high in the Andes, about 1,000km north of the capital Lima.
  

Related Links

• HK’s Air Pollution Claims 600 Lives
• Energy Dinosaurs Fight for 2nd Place
• China determined to go all the way!

• World Without Superpowers a Better Place?
• China haze, temperature inversion, poor air quality
• China Under Siege

• The First Wave of World’s Collapsing Cities  (EDRO Forecast)
• 2011 Much More Disastrous: FIRE-EARTH Forecast
• Global Disasters in 2011 Could Impact 1/3 to 1/2 of the Human Population  (FIRE-EARTH Forecast)
• Back to the Primordial Future
• Mass Die-offs  (FIRE-EARTH Forecast)

• 2010 Disaster Calendar 
• 2011 Disaster Calendar