Chinese Scientist Likens Beijing's Smog Problem To "Nuclear Winter"

Thursday, February 27, 2014 - 13:30 in Earth & Climate

Smog Nagyman A Chinese scientist said that the smog situation in the country is so bad that it resembles a "nuclear winter," preventing plants from producing energy from the sun's rays via photosynthesis, and presenting a possible disaster for the country's food supply. According to the Guardian: Beijing and broad swaths of six northern provinces have spent the past week blanketed in a dense pea-soup smog that is not expected to abate until Thursday. Beijing's concentration of PM 2.5 particles – those small enough to penetrate deep into the lungs and enter the bloodstream – hit 505 micrograms per cubic metre on Tuesday night. The World Health Organisation recommends a safe level of 25. New studies suggest that Chinese agriculture will see conditions "somewhat similar to a nuclear winter" if the smog...

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