This is Beijing on June 20, 2008:
[Photo Credit: James Fallows]
That is how it will look again about the first of October. In the meantime it will get better.
China has undoubtedly made great efforts to improve Beijing’s air quality. As has been noted, given the city’s breakneck development, without these efforts, the situation would be much worse. But the fact remains that the air most Beijngers have lived with and will live with again post-Olympics is not the air that China wants to the world to see when it drops by for the Olympics. So out come the cosmetics.
Beijing will ”freshen up” with temporary factory shut-downs and vehicle restrictions, among the more publicized actions, but all of these are stop-gap measures that will not last post-Olympics. These efforts are often termed “green” by the Chinese press
High-emission or yellow-labeled vehicles will be banned from Beijing roads from July to September to ensure green Olympics and Paralympics as promised by the authorities, environment officials said on Tuesday.
While these temporary fixes will probably produce cleaner air for August and September, they can not be termed “green” unless they were to be imposed permanently, which they won’t be. So speaking of colors, there’s no need to bring your rose-colored glasses to the Olympics, your hosts have already provided them for you.
2 responses so far ↓
1 Will Lewis // Jun 27, 2008 at 1:08 pm
Back in the days of my undergraduate education in East Los Angeles I recall that air quality warnings would come on even the clearest of days. A smoggy day would be one in which we couldn’t see the base of Mount Baldy a mere 2 miles away. There was one clear day in particular that I recall as related to me by my roommate at the time: my roommate played on the soccer team, an air quality warning was issued warning everyone to stay inside, but the skies were blue and the view was unobstructed. So, they stayed out and practiced. About 1/4 to 1/3 of the way into practice just about everyone on the team was doubled-over wheezing, coughing and hacking
Even if the skies are clear, I give high odds on Olympic athletes blaming their ‘choking’ on pollution.
2 cmcelwee // Jun 27, 2008 at 5:21 pm
Excellent point Will. China apparently had goals for four air pollutants it had to meet pursuant to Olympic committments: sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter. Carbon Monoxide is colorless and odorless. Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) are also a concern in Beijing. All these compounds react in a complex way in the air to produce all sorts of stuff including ozone. I don’t know what was going in LA, but as you note “blue skys” doesn’t ensure “clean air.” However, Beijing’s toughest challenge remains the particulate matter (which you can see). It lead to this fairly defeatist headline in People’s Daily on Wednesday: “Beijing tries its best to improve environment” [http://china.org.cn/environment/news/2008-06/25/content_15886531.htm]
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