Who needs readings when you can see the soot?
Though the Chinese government measures air quality, it doesn’t publicize them. According to a source in the Chinese EPA, the figures are not released because:
…the time is not ripe.
Why is the time not “ripe”? The anonymous source [from China’s EPA] says:
If we were required to implement PM2.5 air quality standards, many places would exceed standards by a large margin
If the enviros really wanted to do something for the environment — as opposed to simply imposing totalitarianism — they’d lobby China to enact and implement a Clean Air Act.
Read The Atlantic article, “In China, ‘Time Is Not Ripe’ for Honest Air Pollution Readings.”
How can you accurately measure particulate matter when the gauges keep getting clogged with soot and grime?
Two interesting twists here: 1) the politicos want us to be more like China, and 2) China is probably the least ecologically sound country in the world.