Warming Worsens CA Smog; China Can't Clean Beijing Air; Australia Environment Tanking

Heat, drought worsen smog in California, stalling decades of progress. Heat and extreme drought have worsened smog in California over the last year, stalling decades of progress toward cleaner air and increasing health risks. The state’s prolonged dry spells have brought more temperature inversions, concentrating pollution near the ground.

Unable to clean air completely for APEC, China resorts to blocking data. China has made a gargantuan effort to clear Beijing’s smoggy air for an important regional summit this week, closing hundreds of factories and forcing cars off the road, but its efforts have only been partially successful.

Australia’s environment is ‘going backwards’, green alliance says. Almost half of Australia’s terrestrial ecosystems are threatened, 85 per cent of its rivers have been modified and twice as many Australians die from air pollution annually than road accidents, according to a report on the state of the country’s environment.