Beijing’s ‘crazy bad’ smog cloud could have a silver lining

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When engineers were building the system that tweeted air-quality updates from the U.S. embassy in Beijing, they never expected it to hit 500, a number so far into the "hazardous" zone that it seemed apocalyptic.

So they set "crazy bad" as the automated description for an air-quality index of 500 and above.

It was a joke. They never expected it to happen – and could never have fathomed that those two words might help spur a radical new willingness in China to fight global warming.

In photos: Beijing chokes on smog as Paris climate talks begin

Then in 2010, the joke made global headlines when it suddenly appeared on Twitter, bearing the official imprimatur of the U.S. government. It was quickly deleted and replaced with "beyond index."

It has since reappeared with depressing regularity – including on Monday, when by 9 p.m. the average Beijing air-quality index had reached 611. Southwest of the city it touched 938. Authorities halted construction work, shut down some factories and closed freeways. Schools cancelled classes.

The smothering blanket of air rendered the sun a dull orange and provided an ugly backdrop to the start of the Paris climate talks, where Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to lead a delegation eager to build consensus for strong new measures against global warming.

It's a remarkable shift from earlier climate talks – such as those in 2009 that Beijing was accused of sabotaging.

The following year, the "crazy bad" air arrived.

Smog and climate change are in some ways different problems. Scrubbers can filter particulates from smokestacks and improve air quality. They don't do the same for carbon dioxide emissions.

But in China, both have a common source – the profligate burning of coal – and the country's fouled air, land and water tend to be lumped together as common byproducts of an era that prioritized economic growth above all else. The problem has grown so severe, and public awareness so acute (stoked in no small part by the U.S. embassy air-quality figures), that China's leadership has declared war on pollution.

Every day, China's choking smog kills 4,000 people.

But it may hold one of the keys to fighting climate change, in part because it's so easy to see. It can be hard to visualize a slow-moving climate phenomenon. When the smog gets bad in China, the air itself is visible.

It's an unambiguous symbol of the need for change, and it's an important part of the reason China, now the world's largest carbon emitter, has committed to a hard cap on its emissions by 2030. Beijing is now working to convince the rest of the world to agree to something similar.

A capital city smothered in noxious air is hardly the image China's leadership wants as it arrives in Paris. But for world leaders in search of a climate deal, there might be a little good in "crazy bad."