Firework in Changsha (2)

Despite firework being really beautiful and romantic, it causes many issues. For example, the weekly firework show in Changsha always results in a traffic congestion and light pollution for residents living close to Xiangjiang River. Perhaps the biggest environmental issue which can be attributed to fireworks is air pollution. It may sound unbelievable to many people. According to Dian J. Seidel, who is a senior scientist for climate measurements at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in the United States, "When people think of air pollution, they think of other kinds of things - smoke stacks, automobile exhaust pipes, construction sites, I don't think most people think of fireworks." Nonetheless, firework worsens air quality due to particulate matter, dust, dirt and soot it releases (Worland, 2015). Air pollutants like particulate matter have the power to make people cough, wheeze or even die prematurely (Worland, 2015). As one of the most industrialized city in the Central Southern Part in China, Changsha already has a relatively bad air quality. In 2013, the level of air pollution in Changsha ranked the 20th among all the Chinese cities (Tan, 2014). The annual average PM 2.5 concentration reached 79.1 micrograms per cubic meters in Changsha (Tan, 2014). Therefore weekly firework shows is not a reasonable decision made by the government in Changsha when comes to environmental pollution and public health. 

In my next blog, I will share some opinions about the weekly firework shows from my foreign English teacher and my peers in my high school. 

Here are some photographs of a firework show in Changsha, can you spot any air pollutants from these pictures?

References:

Tan, M., 2014. Bad to worse: ranking 74 Chinese cities by air pollution. [Online]
Available at: http://www.greenpeace.org/eastasia/news/blog/bad-to-worse-ranking-74-chinese-cities-by-air/blog/48181/
[Accessed 5 October 2015].

Worland, J., 2015. How Fireworks Pollution Could Be Hurting Your Health. [Online]
Available at: http://time.com/3943702/fourth-of-july-fireworks-pollution/
[Accessed 5 October 2015].