Who makes 'air' a commodity?
: The response to fine dust is the true face of Korean society!
Professor Jang Jae-yeon, a fine dust researcher with 30 years of experience in the environmental movement, discusses the geocentric theory of fine dust in Korean society in 2019.
: Reading the Korean society of each person living for themselves through the frame of fine dust!

“2019, The World is Confusion in the Dust”

The song [Misery] released by singer UV last month says that the world in 2019 is in a state of chaos due to dust.
The concept of Hite Jinro's beer brand 'Terra', launched this year, is clean lager.
They advertise that they are “concerned about cleanliness in the era of ultrafine dust,” and that even the malt, the raw material for beer, is imported from Australia’s Golden Triangle, which has the world’s best air quality.
Fine dust has entered deep into our lives, not to mention the lyrics of popular songs.
Products designed to avoid 'fine dust' are also appearing one after another.
Amorepacific's 'Fresh Pop' shampoo recommends a fine dust diet, and YouTube is overflowing with advertisements for various 'fine dust cleansing methods' and cosmetics such as cleansing products.
With the slogans, “Carry clean air with you” and “Give the gift of air,” even a portable mini air purifier (LG PuriCare) has appeared.
The 'air-selling society' has finally arrived.

These fine dust-related products and cultural phenomena demonstrate our stark fear of fine dust.
According to the 2018 report of the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs titled ‘Study on Social Integration Diagnosis and Response Measures (IV)’, ‘air pollution such as fine dust’ was selected as the item with the highest level of anxiety among various risks.

Professor Jang Jae-yeon (Ajou University School of Medicine, Co-representative of the Korean Federation for Environmental Movements), author of “Oppose a Society That Sells Air,” has been consistently researching air pollution issues, including fine dust, since publishing his doctoral thesis analyzing data on fine dust in Seoul in 1988, while also continuing his environmental activism for over 30 years.
The author points out that government ministries, the media, academia, and businesses have caused or contributed to this phenomenon, and likens the belief in and spread of misinformation to the 'geocentric theory' of fine dust.
Companies are using "fear marketing" to encourage people to protect themselves, and academia is focusing on developing high-performance masks and air purifiers and measuring pollution instead of researching ways to reduce sources of pollution.


This book scientifically approaches misconceptions about fine dust based on concrete data and verified materials, while also viewing the series of situations surrounding "fine dust" as a social phenomenon and examining how false information and fake news disguised as science are produced and spread.
At the same time, it specifically suggests what needs to be done now to solve the problem of fine dust together rather than leaving it to individuals.

The science that explains fine dust, which is believed in by the academic, political, media, and even citizens of South Korea today, is similar to the geocentric theory.
They do not believe that fine dust is caused by our daily lives and industries, such as fossil fuels and waste incineration, but rather that it comes from neighboring countries and that we are only suffering the consequences.
The geocentric theory of fine dust has not solved anything in the past five years.
It only served to fuel fear and anger towards neighboring countries.
While our neighboring country improved its fine dust pollution level by 40%, we wasted time by standing still.
--- p.8

Just because pollution levels have improved compared to the past, we must never stop or become lazy in our efforts to improve it.
This is because pollution is getting worse again.
Although fine dust pollution has improved, further improvement is needed.
Therefore, the public's great concern can be a very positive phenomenon in that it can act as a powerful driving force for environmental improvement.

Even so, it is difficult to significantly distort scientific or historical facts themselves.
They incite people to believe that the current situation is the worst possible one, and they indiscriminately push forward various policies, alternatives, or absurd and ineffective measures that have already been implemented in the past as if they were something completely new and ingenious. This only exacerbates policy confusion and hinders problem solving.
--- p.28~29

A frequently cited figure to emphasize the severity of the health damage caused by fine dust pollution is that the number of premature deaths due to fine dust exceeds 10,000 per year.
It is also added that “China has over a million people.”
‘Early death due to fine dust’ does not mean that fine dust was recorded as the cause of death on the death certificate or that it was individually diagnosed.
The number of premature deaths due to fine dust is a statistically estimated figure using several variables, such as fine dust pollution level and mortality rate by disease.
Therefore, if it is mistaken for the actual number of deaths or is misused without understanding its meaning, misunderstandings or errors may occur.
This figure was developed to evaluate the health, economic, and social effects of reducing fine dust.
--- p.59

Because fine dust is generated from heating, cooking, transportation, industry, and construction, there is virtually no way for countries with severe pollution to meet WHO standards in the short term.
Historical experience has shown us that the only practical and effective way to achieve this is to set standards that can be achieved through diligent effort, appropriate to one's circumstances, and then, once that goal is achieved, to strengthen the standards again and continue to improve them.
The World Health Organization's guidelines present the most ideal values ​​from a health perspective, without any consideration of economic, social, or technological conditions.
Therefore, it is very difficult to achieve this guideline.
In most countries, the call to adopt this as an environmental standard is nothing more than an empty slogan.
The World Health Organization is also well aware of this fact, and so it presents several interim goals for each stage along with its guidelines.
--- p.90~92

The 'bad' level, which is considered to affect the general public, is 255㎍/㎥ or higher in the US, which is more than three times the 'bad' level standard in Korea, which is 81㎍/㎥.
The standards for determining PM10 concentration in Korea and the United States are so different that it is difficult to understand with common sense, which can lead to absurd situations.
Fine dust caused by natural phenomena such as yellow dust has relatively large particles, so even if the PM10 concentration increases significantly, PM2.5 does not increase much.
Therefore, even when light yellow dust occurs, the PM2.5 standard often remains in the low concentration range of 'normal' or 'bad'.
Even if the PM10 concentration on a day like this rises to an average of 150㎍/㎥ per day, it is considered 'normal' by American standards, but in our country, they report it as if it is 'very bad' and use all sorts of scary expressions to make it seem like there is chaos.
Our country has an average annual fine dust pollution level more than twice that of the United States, and only adopted the annual average standard earlier this year, which the United States had strengthened long ago.
Still, it is difficult to understand the basis for setting the daily average standard so much higher than that of the United States.
--- p.102~103

If we believe there is nothing we can do to reduce fine dust, anxiety and anger will grow, and we will have no choice but to find our own way.
With the constant stream of media interviews with experts who incite and promote fear of fine dust, like adding fuel to the fire, people have come to believe that even going outside can cause serious problems.
It is only natural that people are trying to find ways to survive by wearing masks and buying air purifiers.
The government and experts' recommendations for mask-wearing, combined with promotional campaigns by air purifier companies, have led to a massive surge in sales for related industries.
This phenomenon immediately sparked a trend of actively using fine dust in all other commercial advertisements and promotions.
The so-called golden age of fine dust fear marketing has arrived.
--- p.116

They say that reducing domestic fine dust emissions is useless because fine dust from China is the cause of the problem, but this argument goes against basic common sense.
Even those who claim that fine dust from China has an absolute impact would probably cover their noses and avoid a passing car spewing out exhaust fumes.
There are probably a significant number of residents who suffer from air pollutants emitted from factories around their residential areas.
It is a fact that is very clear from experience that the pollution that occurs around us has the greatest negative impact on us.
Therefore, reducing the amount of fine dust generated domestically will have an immediate positive effect on us.

There is also evidence that during the period when we stopped blaming China and worked hard to reduce our internal pollutants, fine dust pollution levels actually improved significantly.
An analysis of Seoul City data shows that during periods when efforts were made to actively reduce fine dust emissions, fine dust pollution levels significantly improved.
Although the performance each year is slightly uneven due to the influence of weather conditions, the improvement has been exactly equivalent to the reduction rate of fine dust emissions over the past 10 years.
--- p.142~143

Even in the field of air pollution, research on calculating the contribution of fine dust from China, for example, is quite difficult.
Moreover, without China's cooperation, it is frustrating but understandable that the Ministry of Environment and the National Institute of Environmental Research are causing confusion in this field and have yet to produce reliable results.
However, the trend of changes in air pollution can be clearly explained with relatively simple statistics.
Since the automatic air pollution monitoring network began operating in 1983, air pollution data collection has been ongoing for a whopping 35 years.
If so, the government can clearly inform the public that the current level of fine dust pollution in our country is not the worst ever.
However, the Vice Minister of Environment and all public officials are silent about the misunderstandings of our people, evading and taking no action, perhaps to avoid being criticized.
Because of this, when environmental groups and some journalists tell the truth that fine dust pollution levels are lower now than in the past, they are subject to insults such as, “Are you a Chinese spy?” and “How much money did you receive from China?”
It is difficult to understand how the Ministry of Environment can solve the fine dust problem when it is so cowardly and incompetent that it cannot even explain basic facts about fine dust to the public.
--- p.241~242

Internationally, medical and health government agencies are cautioning against wearing masks when fine dust pollution occurs, rather than recommending it.
The American Thoracic Society, which was founded in 1905 and has over 15,000 physicians and scientists as members, clearly states in its guidelines that wearing protective masks can cause physical strain by making it harder for people to breathe, increase breathing frequency by reducing tidal volume, reduce ventilation in the alveoli and lungs, and possibly even cause adverse effects such as reduced cardiac output.
--- p.251

However, it is impossible to reduce the pollution level by one-third to 100㎍/㎥ on a day when the concentration of fine dust is 150㎍/㎥, even if it means incurring enormous costs and inconveniences.
This is a clear fact not only in this case of Seoul, but also in all cases to date.
On the other hand, we have experienced that reducing the annual average pollution level by not only 1㎍/㎥ but also more is possible, and this has been proven in numerous cities in advanced countries.
South Korea has tens of millions of cars on the road and consumes a huge amount of fossil fuels, with per capita greenhouse gas emissions at a world-class level. The claim that there is no room for further reduction in fine dust emissions is nothing more than a reckless statement.

--- p.307~308