Blog 5

Blog 5

Please describe in words your impressions of Auckland air quality; either how it looks or how it feels to 'breathe in'. You can describe your experiences in terms of senses or ‘affects’. When do you most notice the air? What are your memories and impressions of Auckland's air quality?

                                            Photo was taken in 2009 at my home yard.

As a student from China, I found that Auckland’s air quality is extremely high compared with the air quality in China. China has the world’s largest population and developed fast at the cost of sacrifice the environment. I could barely see crystal-clear blue sky in China in the past 10 years as most of the time the sky was a bit foggy. I have been in New Zealand for 4 years. I can clearly remember the day I first arrived at Auckland airport. I could not believe how clean Auckland city was and how blue the sky was. One thing really surprised me was that the cloud was moving incredibly fast and I guess it was just too windy. So I feel like every time I breathe in it was always the fresh air from the Ocean Pacific. I have lived in Auckland city for two years then moved to St Johns area. I personally feel that the air quality of the suburban area is better than Auckland city’s and the air quality in the morning and evening is better than the daytime’s. No matter what we cannot ignore over 600,000 vehicles and large number of smokers in Auckland, so the fewer households a suburb contain the better air quality the suburb will be. Besides Auckland city centre has less parks or reserves than suburb has. St Johns area has a couple of reserves and parks and even a large golf course. Overall as I have experienced myself, I don’t feel that the air quality has changed in the 4 years since I have been in Auckland but I do feel that Suburban area has better air quality that city centre.