How to Fight Pollution With Twitter!

The poor state of China’s air quality has been a well-known fact for years. However, despite it being common knowledge for quite some time, it’s only over the last seven years that such knowledge has been documented. We knew the air was bad – we just didn’t know exactly how bad. As a result, the Chinese government were able to downplay fears and avoid taking action.

However, in 2008, the US Embassy in Beijing began to change all of that. How? Simple – using Twitter. As unlikely as it may sound, the social media platform has been instrumental in ushering in A New Era in Air Quality Monitoring in China. Read on to find out how.

Small Stone, Big Ripple

In 2008, the Beijing Embassy affixed an air quality monitor the roof of their building. Among other things, this device measured one crucial component: PM2.5. PM2.5 are airborne particles which are finer than 2.5 microns in diameter, which is roughly the equivalent thickness to a spider’s web thread. These particles are small enough to be inhaled and even enter the human bloodstream, but large enough to do serious damage to our respiratory systems.

Indeed, air pollution is now recognised as one of the top 10 dangers to human health worldwide, and one of the top 5 in developing Asian countries. It actually kills more people annually than malaria and HIV put together! Clearly, it’s a problem that needs addressing.

Not only did this little device measure PM2.5 levels at hourly intervals in Beijing, it also tweeted these just as regularly. Pretty soon, the tweets, which proved that Chinese air exceeded the bounds of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s air quality index, were receiving a global audience. More importantly, they were being read by Chinese citizens due to lapses and loopholes in the Chinese internet firewall.

Enforced Change

Indignation at these results – which came from a reliable source and were in direct contradiction of the official figures published by the Chinese government – led the Chinese people to demand change. Initially, the government resisted, calling the monitors “illegal” and refusing to implement changes.

However, over time, sustained pressure led to them admitting defeat and taking affirmative action to improve air quality. By 2013, the government had installed approximately 500 of its own PM2.5 stations around the country and later that year, pledged billions of pounds to addressing the issue. A rough outline of their plan to correct the issues and the equipment in place to do so can be obtained from the article Air Pollution in China Today - Emissions, APC Equipment and the Effect of the 12th 5-Year Plan.

A Knock-on Effect

Even more encouragingly, the success story of the Beijing Embassy air monitory has led to imitation on a global scale. The US Embassy and consulates in India have adopted a similar approach, attempting to force change by tweeting similar data. Non-government groups in the Mongolian city of Ulaanbaatar (widely recognised as one of the most polluted in the world) have set up their own air monitoring stations to try and affect change. They’ve even adapted the idea to give flood warning readings, as well. In fact, the initial site which published the data now has information on more than 4,000 locations worldwide.

Bravo Twitter! And in less than 140 characters, too… not bad at all.