各地如何應(yīng)對空氣污染？

Cities Have Radically Different Responses to Pollution

近日，當倫敦籠罩在污染嚴重的空氣中時,倫敦市市長薩迪克·汗推出了新的空氣質(zhì)量警報系統(tǒng)，該系統(tǒng)可在公交車站、地鐵站和道路旁警告因空氣污染出現(xiàn)病癥的人們減少劇烈運動。他還宣布將用于減少污染的資金增加一倍。

但他沒有制定禁令的法律權(quán)力，他已經(jīng)要求政府采取緊急行動，其中包括柴油車報廢計劃。

世界各地的城市都面臨著與倫敦類似的問題。有些城市表現(xiàn)的比其他地區(qū)更激進，但總體而言，他們的經(jīng)驗表明，改善空氣質(zhì)量的聯(lián)合措施有所見效。

與此同時，巴黎也遭遇了近十年來最嚴重的類似空氣污染，政府立即采取行動，取消了公共交通收費，采取單雙號限行制度限制在道路上通行的車輛數(shù)量。

同時，巴黎市市長安娜·伊達爾戈與馬德里、雅典以及墨西哥城的官員共同宣布，計劃在2025年前禁止所有柴油車上路。

柴油污染十分嚴重，其有害二氧化氮及細微污染顆粒的排放量比汽油更大，并可能導(dǎo)致癌癥、心臟病。

盡管燃燒柴油會損害健康，但是基于柴油產(chǎn)生的溫室氣體二氧化碳比汽油更少這一假設(shè)，歐洲各國政府，包括英國，還是向司機提供稅收優(yōu)惠政策，以有效鼓勵他們使用柴油。如今，這一假設(shè)遭到了質(zhì)疑。

When a thick cloud of air pollution settled in over London recently, London mayor Sadiq Khan rolled out a new system of air quality alerts at bus stops, Tube stations and roadsides, warning those who experience symptoms from air pollution to reduce strenuous activity. The mayor also announced a doubling of funding for reducing pollution.

But he does not have the legal authority to institute a ban, and has demanded the government take urgent action, including a diesel scrappage scheme.

Cities around the world are confronting problems similar to London’s. Some have been more aggressive than others, but overall, their experience shows that concerted steps to improve air quality do work.

Meanwhile, as Paris suffered a similar pollution episode - its worst in a decade - off cials swung into action, waiving charges for public transport and restricting the number of cars allowed on roads, alternately barring those with odd and even license plates.

At the same time Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo joined off cials from Madrid, Athens and Mexico City in announcing plans to get all diesel vehicles off the roads by 2025.

Diesel is highly polluting, emitting far greater amounts of dangerous nitrogen dioxide and tiny pollution particles than petrol, and can cause cancer to heart attacks.

Despite the health damage it wreaks, governments across Europe,including Britain’s, have offered motorists tax incentives that effectively encourage the use of diesel, on the assumption - now being questioned - that it produces less planet-warming carbon dioxide than petrol.

大部分西歐國家都受到了柴油災(zāi)難的影響，而柏林卻是它們之中明顯的例外。柏林已經(jīng)整頓了該市的車輛，在公交車和垃圾車上安裝了污染過濾裝置，并對重型貨車實施嚴格的規(guī)定。該市有一個限制老式柴油車和汽車使用率的限制排放區(qū)，這里已經(jīng)是德國汽車使用率最低的地區(qū)之一，近年來使用率還在進一步降低。公共交通高效且便利，兩個小時的通行成本只要2.7歐元。

聯(lián)邦環(huán)境局交通及噪聲部前負責人兼政府和游說組織顧問阿克賽爾·弗萊德里奇表示，在短短三年內(nèi)，超微粒子的水平因此下降了70%，這是一種最細小最危險的污染粒子。

洛杉磯是美國汽車文化最發(fā)達的城市，該市也在努力凈化空氣。

加利福尼亞清潔空氣聯(lián)盟主席Joe Lyou稱，“我們已經(jīng)取得了驚人的進步，我們可以看到洛杉磯的山脈，對于在洛杉磯長大的我們來說，在我們小時候這是絕對不可能的?！?/p>

這一巨大的改進是美國最嚴空氣質(zhì)量監(jiān)管帶來的結(jié)果。另外一個重要原因是在全國范圍內(nèi)強制取締不清潔的柴油卡車以及擴大零排放車輛的使用。

數(shù)十年的監(jiān)管讓美國的車輛比40年前清潔程度提升了99%，此外，紐約、洛杉磯等城市還因為機動車駕駛者不喜歡柴油而受益，使用柴油的機動車的數(shù)量大約只占美國車輛的2%。

北京通過車牌限制來限定汽車數(shù)量，并在空氣特別糟糕的時候制定計劃限制最古老和污染最嚴重的車輛上路。更重要的是，由于公眾對污染的憤怒，中國政府已經(jīng)將數(shù)十億美元用于風能和太陽能建設(shè)，成為世界上最大的可再生能源投資國。政府官員甚至開始取消新建燃煤電站的計劃，這會對中國和世界人民的健康帶來影響。

2016年11月，德里市的2000萬居民經(jīng)歷了17年來最嚴重的霧霾事件。政府官員暫時關(guān)閉了一家燃煤電廠，停止所有建設(shè)和拆除工作，并關(guān)掉了許多柴油發(fā)電機。

德里已經(jīng)開始認識到空氣污染問題的跡象是，因為顆粒物質(zhì)的水平飆升至推薦最大值的28倍，政府還讓1800所學(xué)校關(guān)閉三天。(China daily供稿)

Berlin is a notable exception to the story of the diesel disaster gripping much of western Europe. It has cleaned up its own fleet, installing pollution f lters on buses and garbage trucks, and imposed tough rules on heavy goods vehicles. A strict emission zone bars older diesel vehicles, and rates of car use, which are already among the lowest in Germany, have dropped even further in recent years. Public transport is eff cient and easy to use, with a two-hour pass costing just €2.70 (￡2.25).

As a result, levels of the tiniest, most dangerous particles, known as ultraf nes, fell 70% in just three years, says Axel Friedrich, former head of transport and noise at the federal environmental agency, and an adviser to government and advocacy groups.

Los Angeles, the city where American car culture reached its zenith, has also pushed hard to clean up its air.

“We’ve made incredible progress, we can see the mountains in Los Angeles, when those of us who grew up here never could when we were young.” says Joe Lyou, president of California’s Coalition for Clean Air.

The dramatic improvement is the result of the most stringent air quality regulation in America. A statewide crackdown on dirty diesel lorries and a push to expand use of zero-emission vehicles are also a big part of the story.

In addition to the decades of regulation that have made American cars 99% cleaner than they were 40 years ago, cities like New York and LA have benef tted from American motorists’ distaste for diesel, which accounts for only about 2% of cars in the US.

Beijing has used license plate restrictions to limit the number of cars and set out plans to keep the oldest and most polluting vehicles off roads when air is especially bad. More importantly, the government has harnessed public anger over pollution to plough billions of dollars into wind and solar power, becoming the world’s biggest investor in renewable energy. Off cials have even begun cancelling plans for new coal-f red power stations - a move with repercussions for the health of those living in Chinese cities, and for the planet.

November 2016, Delhi’s 20 million people suffered through the worst smog episode in 17 years. Off cials temporarily shuttered a coal-f red power plant, halted all construction and demolition work and shut down many diesel power generators.

In a sign that Delhi has begun to acknowledge the problem, off cials also closed 1,800 schools for three days, as particulate levels soared to 28 times the recommended maximums.