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Pechino, la nuova Londra di fine '800

Res publica   19.11.10  

Lo smog a Pechino

Un tweet dell'ambasciata americana a Pechino descrive involontariamente il livello d'inquinamento nella capitale cinese come "crazy bad" e ne scoppia una caso.

The outlandish description appeared on the @beijingair Twitter account late yesterday when levels of PM2.5 tiny particulate matter surged past 500, about 20 times higher than the guideline issued by the World Health Organisation.

The "crazy bad" terminology – which was at odds with the normally sober and scientific language of the Twitter account – appeared to have been a joke embedded in the embassy's monitoring program and triggered by a reading that was off the normal scale.

US officials quickly deleted "crazy bad" and replaced it with the term "beyond index", but not before the original message was widely retweeted by shocked Beijingers.

The wilder wording was probably closer to capturing the danger posed by pollution at these levels, which has been linked to brain damage, bronchial disease and heart attacks.

Several residents said "crazy bad" was refreshingly frank, particularly given the reluctance of Chinese officials to disclose real-time pollution data or any measurements of ozone or PM2.5 particulate matter.

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