I should be saying what a gorgeous spring its been. The sun has been shining, the temperatures have been in that wonderful 70 degree range that feels perfect, the flowers are blooming (okay, there are always flowers blooming here). What sucks all the joy out of this seemingly lovely weather? The pollution.

Pretty much every day since Chinese New Year break has been over, the pollution levels have been in the red zone - unhealthy for everyone. The reason the air was good during CNY is that the schools and most of the factories were closed down for the vacation week so there was less crap getting spewed into the air. I tried to get my students to care about this - get your government to care about your health! Get them to enact some change! You have a say in how your environment is taken care of! You'd think I was talking to a bunch of 13 year olds who only care about themselves. Oh right, I teach middle school. Sigh.