Beijing,

China — Coming from what seems like a tropical paradise, by comparison, I am sometimes asked ‘why trade mother nature for a man-made megacity blanketed by smog’.Beijing, the steadily growing metropolis of the East is a great city with a pollution problem that understandably occupies the mind of everyone here. From a Yardie perspective, it’s scary.Beijing has a population of over 21 million and a land area of 1475 square metres which puts it in the Huffington Post’s top 10 megacities. Compare that with Jamaica and its population of 2.9 million, which is seven times smaller than Beijing’s.Whenever I am asked about Beijing and what it is like, my response is that, “It’s like Half -Way-Tree on Christmas Eve, full a people like ants.”Beijing, to be truthful, is a wonderful place to be, with tons to do. Chinese culture mixes with modern infrastructure in a spectacular way and there are lots of opportunities to do business and make that red money (the colour of China’s highest note, 100 RMB) . But that is often masked by the lung-busting air pollution which sometimes has one gasping for air.At the time of writing this, Beijing’s AQI (Air Quality Index) was at 177, according to the

aqicn.org website. Picture Riverton’s landfill on fire on a daily basis. That means everyone in Beijing will be affected by the amount of “pm2.5” particles floating around in the air.Again, compare that with Jamaica’s, which was just at 28.5. The AQI scale is between 0 and 500-400 and upwards means brimstone and fire raining down from the heavens, with the smell of sulphur and phosphorous premeating the atmosphere. Well, I exaggerate a bit, but it is hazardous and everyone caught in its wake for too long will experience severe health complications.To combat such a problem, my wife Charmaine and I took necessary precautions such as: air pollution masks of different proportions; an air purifier device; and an air humidifier device. These, along with sealing the A/C pipe holes, gave our home the island life air quality we are accustomed to back in the Caribbean.You may wonder, what caused Beijing to become a city of masked people? Well, lots of fingers are pointed at development, and a nearby desert. China is the leading manufacturer of goods and services in the world and the majority contributor to global economic growth and development.According to

Statista.com, exports account for over 18 per cent of China’s GDP. A side effect of having over 1,200 factories mixed with the occasional sandstorms is ‘airpocalypse’ (newly coined word).I just read an article titled ‘Here’s How Many People Die Each Day in China Because of Its Filthy Air’ by Esha Dey’ which says that 1.2 million people die every year from pollution. The writer claims that the information was taken from a study done by researchers from the University of California.I had a scary evening recently when an associate of mine called sounding very ghastly. He asked me to pray with him and then to help take him to the hospital. We later found out that he was dying from a respiratory disease, lungs clogged from inhaling too much pm2.5.Mark Zuckerburg’s jogging stunt around Beijing the other day is not advisable, to say the least.Despite this message of doom and gloom, behind every dark cloud there is a silver lining. Beijing is working towards a cleaner tomorrow. China now has the largest floating solar farm in the world. They are adamantly looking at cleaner energy options than coal, which accounts for the majority of their energy usage. China as well is the leading manufacturer of wind turbine engines that are used in their windmills.Some Chinese, and I agree with them, believe that China has taken the brunt of the world’s pollution problem by accepting the role as chief manufacturer and supplier to the world of cheap goods and services .This has resulted in unhealthy cities ridden with pm2.5 in exchange for some remarkable economic development that is benefiting the entire globe.