A breath of fresh air

A breath of fresh air

After sitting indoors for a couple of hours, whether listening to a lecture or writing a proposal on the

computer, one of the most natural things we want to do is to have a breath of fresh air. Unfortunately such a

natural

thing

is

becoming

increasingly

difficult

to

find.

For

people

living

in

mega-cities

like

Beijing,

Shanghai and Guangzhou, a breath of fresh air is almost a luxury.

The

main

reasons

why

air

pollution

is

aggravated

in

cities

in

developing

countries

include

increasing

traffic, growing cities, economic development and industrialization. Smoke for example, is a combination of

water vapour, dust and various gases which are largely produced when fuels are burnt (by cars, for example).

Smog

caused

big

problems

in

London

in

t

he

19th

and

early

20th

century.

From

Charles

Dickens’

Oliver

Twist

we know the serious problem of smog in London at that time, and this is why London was named Wu

Du, meaning “smoggy capital”. Even today, many Chinese still think London is very smoggy.

Through

my

own

travel

experiences

in

England

and

my

many

visits

to

Beijing

in

recent

years,

I'm

convinced that Beijing has successfully inherited the name Wu Du from London. In Beijing, in spite of all

those claims about “blue skies”, thick smog frequently f

ouls the air and disrupts hundreds of flights.

In September 2011, I visited London again with my family. We went to see Wesminster, Bridge Big Ben,

Tower Bridge, the Globe Theatre, Trafalgar Square, and other places of historical and cultural interest. What

impressed us most were the clear blue skies, the green parks (big and small) flowers of all sorts, and seagulls

gliding above the River Times, which is the complete opposite of what T.S. Eliot wrote in his poem The

Waste

Land.

In

Hyde

Park,

we

even

had

close

encounters

with

squirrels

begging

for

nuts,

pairs

of

white

swans,

Canadian

geese,

Mandarin

ducks,

and

many

other

wild

birds

that

we

could

not

name.

Serenity,

beauty and harmony were some of the words that came to mind when strolling through this fabulous park.

Looking at the huge problem of air pollution and serious ecological damage in our country, I strongly

feel that we need a breath of fresh air in environmental protection, a breath of fresh air in our legislative

bodies in writing laws to control emissions, a breath of fresh air in the scientific research on the damaging

effects of and the solutions to air pollution, and a breath of fresh air in our education system, from nursery to

postgraduates schools, so that every one of us is aware of the problem and will be prepared to do something

about it. If we all take action and make peace with our planet, a breath of fresh air will no longer be a luxury.