Micro Pollution - ICK!!!!

All I heard growing up was how beautiful, lush and fresh Korea was and for the most part that is what I have experienced since I have been here.  I was NOT prepared for these random days of bad air quality.  I feel like I'm back in Sacramento, CA where they have a tower that will notify you of the air quality for that day - if the tower is green you're good to go and if the tower is red limit your outside activities.

Starting this past weekend until today the air quality was really bad here.  One could easily mistake the bad air quality for just fog or a slight haze - at least that is what it looks like to us.  From what I have been reading, there are days when you can't even see it and/or the quality will only be poor for a short period of time and so there will be no notification.  Before moving here I would see pictures or stuff on TV about Asians wearing respiratory face masks while doing their daily routines outside and thinking, "wow, they have taken this 'being clean' gig a bit too far".  Now I definitely understand that this is not the case.

Korean news will notify the public when the air quality is bad and advise everyone to take precautions. Did I mention that I still haven't learned the Korean language?  Well, this same information is not provided on AFN (Armed Forces Network) that is in English - WHY???  We see infomercials about terrorists; human trafficking; saving money; intoxication; etc but nothing about notification on bad air days and/or how to take precautions.

These particles in the pollution are typically made up of smoke, nitrates, dirt or metals but samples have also shown neurotoxins such as lead and arsenic.  Oh joy!  According to the Korean news, most of this pollution is being blown in from China and making its way even to Japan.  From articles I have read, Korea use to have really bad pollution years ago that they generated on their own as their industry starting booming.  Since then they have become environmentally aware and began to enforce strict health/environmental guidelines.  China, on the other hand, doesn't have as strict of regulations and they are suffering the brunt of their own pollution while sharing some of it with their Asian neighbors.

Do I think this is any worse than what I have been exposed to in the US?  No.  I just had a different expectation when I came to Korea and very disappointed that this is an issue here.  From my understanding, winter is the worse time, although you will still have some days in the summer.  I just hope that there aren't that many bad air quality days in the summer, not only because I want to avoid getting asthma or other medical issues but also because I want to save $$.  I plan to keep my windows open for the majority of the summer to avoid expensive electric bills from running an air conditioner.