Picture by James Fallows

Picture by James Fallows

My friend Daniel Ng alerted me to this James Fallows piece on poor Beijing air quality that has sent netizens a-flurry over the recent streak of bad air. Fallows included the typical photographic evidence of smoggy Beijing skylines as a reference.

I think Fallows brought up critical points regarding the relative lack of transparency on air quality data, citing an LA Times article that speaks to some of the political controversies of including PM 2.5 and fine particulate matter measurements into air quality standards and measurements. But what both James Fallows and Barbara Demerick of the LA Times failed to mention or to give China credit for is that the Chinese government does have plans to start measuring PM 2.5 and to change air quality standards.

So I let Fallows know about what I saw as an oversight in his piece via Twitter, and he heard it!

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