Beijing's Pollution Unrelenting
Posted by Metabetable at 6/26/2008 11:49 AM and is filed under Beijing,Pollution,2008 Olympic Games,China News 
It beginning to look like Beijing's last ditch efforts at cleansing it's abysmal air pollution may very well fail. Organizers are beginning to talk about postponing or canceling events which last longer than an hour if things don't drastically improve in the coming weeks.
From CNBC:
Visitors to this summer’s Beijing Olympics will get an immediate lesson in the environmental cost of China's break-neck economic development: the worst air pollution in the world, which kills an estimated 656,000 people every year.
“There's simply no experience quite like it," recalled Don Wyatt, a China expert from Middlebury College, about deplaning at Beijing International Airport. "One's throat instantly constricts. One's eyes instantly water. Things improve very little once one exits the airport. The rest of it is all about adaptation, learning to cope.”
It would be both sad and embarrasing if China has to postpone or cancel Olympic events. But I think such a thing would at least have the possibility of shaming China into taking its pollution problems more seriously.
China has repeatedly assured the world that Beijing's absolutely ridiculous air quality would improve before the Games. But it looks as if this may just be a pipe dream. Just a month ago on May 28th, Beijing's air quality was rated as "heavily polluted" and its residents were encouraged to stay indoors and avoid strenuous activities.
That doesn't bode well at all for the Olympics (you know, the thing where athletes compete outside), now just a few weeks away.
My guess is that the international community is going to be beside itself when it sees how bad things really are in Beijing. It looks like the Olympic organizers poorly estimated what it is going to take to make Beijing presentable. I wouldn't be at all surprised if the city's pollution and air quality are going to be the biggest stories of these Olympics.
From CNBC:
Visitors to this summer’s Beijing Olympics will get an immediate lesson in the environmental cost of China's break-neck economic development: the worst air pollution in the world, which kills an estimated 656,000 people every year.
“There's simply no experience quite like it," recalled Don Wyatt, a China expert from Middlebury College, about deplaning at Beijing International Airport. "One's throat instantly constricts. One's eyes instantly water. Things improve very little once one exits the airport. The rest of it is all about adaptation, learning to cope.”
The more immediate concern for the ruling Chinese Communist party, though, is to avoid having to postpone or cancel some events—particularly the endurance sports, marathon and bicycling—for health reasons, as the International Olympic Committee has warned.
After promising the world’s first "Green Olympics"—and spending $12.2 billion on 20 key projects—this would be a public relations nightmare.
To head this off, China announced a series of emergency measures last week, including alternating (odd-even registrations) driving days and banning 300,000 heavy-polluting vehicles, including aging trucks working at night. But skeptics say it may be too little, too late to make a difference.
Read OnIt would be both sad and embarrasing if China has to postpone or cancel Olympic events. But I think such a thing would at least have the possibility of shaming China into taking its pollution problems more seriously.
China has repeatedly assured the world that Beijing's absolutely ridiculous air quality would improve before the Games. But it looks as if this may just be a pipe dream. Just a month ago on May 28th, Beijing's air quality was rated as "heavily polluted" and its residents were encouraged to stay indoors and avoid strenuous activities.
That doesn't bode well at all for the Olympics (you know, the thing where athletes compete outside), now just a few weeks away.
My guess is that the international community is going to be beside itself when it sees how bad things really are in Beijing. It looks like the Olympic organizers poorly estimated what it is going to take to make Beijing presentable. I wouldn't be at all surprised if the city's pollution and air quality are going to be the biggest stories of these Olympics.
Give 'em a chance, Mark. This thing is months away, and since the pollution has only been building for a couple decades, it's too soon for your doomsdaying.
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Well its 29th June, some 41 days to go.
And having just spent 3 weeks in Beijing, I have not seen the air so thick since 96/97 when even china daily joked about 'little johnny at school believing that the sky was grey - as had never seen it any other colour, and promising a 3 year plan to improve it' About 2002/2003 one could regularly see blue skys 9 out of 10 days... and the air felt clear.
How did they manage to step backwards, and so dramatically. walking around I could not see further than a couple of Km (or less at times)... like a massive fog.
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This is unbelievable. Thanks for the first hand insight.
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