Beijing ( CNN ) For years China has been the envy of the world , hailed as the great 'economic miracle ' thanks to its sustained double-digit growth . Of late , however , the Middle Kingdom has also become the poster boy for environmental degradation , a target of ridicule for Beijing 's now notorious `` airpocalyse . '' Even U.S. President Barack Obama could not resist dissing Beijing 's bad air . `` I would just point to one simple example , and that is you would not want your kids growing up in Beijing right now , because they could not breathe , '' President Obama said while defending his controversial environmental regulation last week . `` And the fact of the matter is that used to be true in Los Angeles -- as recently as 1970 . And the reason it changed was because of the Clean Air Act , '' he added . Lessons . Like LA , Beijing sits in a virtual 'bowl . ' Surrounded by mountain ranges , air -- clean or dirty -- typically gets trapped when there 's no wind blowing . This similar geography hopefully delivers valuable anti-pollution lessons Beijing can heed . Speaking at a recent forum held at the Stanford Center in Peking University , Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said that pollution is n't the result of bad geography alone but `` human activity in that bad geography . '' Like Beijing today , LA in the last century went through a rapid rise in population and an economic boom . `` With this followed demands for more power , more jobs , and the rising middle class that did things like buy cars and drive them , '' Garcetti said . `` We grew and are proud of that growth , as you here in Beijing should be too . But it came at a cost . '' `` Our first smog attack came near World War II , and it was so bad that some thought it was a chemical weapon attack by Japanese forces during the war . '' As the LA population grew , smog in the 1950s and 1960s got worse . `` Our economy thrived but our air did not . Like Beijing today , 60 years ago LA was fumed up from oil refineries , power plants , our steel and chemical plants , '' Garcettie said . Pollution came at a human cost . `` In the 1970s when I grew up . We breathed the dirtiest air in the world , '' Garcetti explained . `` Kids were kept from playing outside . Emergency rooms were filled with patients . '' Three step plan to beating pollution . Garcetti ticked off three effective measures to combat the smog . Step 1 : Face the truth , accept it and own it . When LA was in self-denial , `` we used polite words to describe smog , like 'it 's just a hazy day ' or 'it 's overcast ' , '' Garcetti recalled . Step 2 : Build a strong government for enforcement . In 1963 , the government passed its first Clean Air Act , which mandated governments at federal and local levels to get involved . In 1970 , it passed its first emission standards for cars . Step 3 : Get the public sector and ordinary people involved to make sure that the government 's held accountable . Private groups and civil society played important roles as whistle-blowers and watchdogs . The city did not have to sacrifice growth either , Garcetti said . `` When you pair a regulation with innovation , you get a pro-growth policy , '' he said . `` Turning to new green energy not only improved LA 's pollution problem , it sparked an entirely new clean tech industry that attracted new businesses in our city and employed tens of thousands of people . '' `` Today , I 'm the mayor of a city that has seen the population double at the same time we reduced ozone level by nearly two thirds . We have beautiful sunny days , with clear skies throughout most of the year . '' Consolation . It may be a small consolation for Beijingers to know that when LA was mired in bad air and dirty water , the skies in the Chinese capital were clear . I fondly remember Beijing in the 1970s and 1980s , when rivers where clean and people fished and swam . Except for the few days when sand storms whipped up from the Gobi desert swept over Beijing , the city 's sky was typically blue . Of course , Beijing then had a few industries , life was spartan , population movement was severely restricted , and most people got around via bicycles , not cars . The encouraging news is residents and officials in Beijing now agree that China needs to clean its air . Last month , when Beijing hosted the annual APEC summit meeting , Chinese officials pulled out all the stops to ensure the sky was clear -- forcing factories to close , limiting the number of cars on the road and declaring a six-day holiday to encourage citizens to leave Beijing . It largely worked . Most of the days turned out to be smog free , prompting people to coin the phrase `` APEC blue . '' Of course , these are short-term fixes and China needs to make sure long-term measures come to fruition . China 's foreign ministry said in response to a question on President Obama 's swipe it hoped that `` APEC blue '' could last permanently . Let 's hope they 're successful because at stake is the health and well-being of millions of Chinese , not to mention China 's national pride .
China is a `` poster boy '' for environmental degradation . President Garcetti recently took a swipe at Los Angeles ' 's bad air . Beijing battle with air pollution could hold lessons for China , says city 's mayor . LA says Beijing can tackle smog without sacrificing growth .