Beijing Weathers the Weather and Pollution

by Josh Lew on

On August 8th, while the opening ceremonies were in progress, Chinese meteorologists had their eyes on the sky.

In the days before the Olympics, Beijing assembled its own Olympic-caliber weather team, choosing the cream of the crop from a pool of over 200 meteorologists. At one point on the evening of the ceremonies, the chief of these weather superstars, Guo Hu, ordered rockets to be fired to disperse rain clouds that seemed to be headed for the Bird’s Nest.

But the hot and hazy weather that came with the lack of rain was stifling. Though the air quality was better in Beijing than before the Games, the haze was still prevalent enough to cause concern. Some of the city panoramas broadcast by NBC on August 9th showed a haze that made Los Angeles look like the fresh air capital of the world.That’s probably why there were no rockets shot at rain clouds on August 10th and 11th. Not only did the rain ease the nearly 100-degree heat of the previous day, it doused the smog as well. Even as competitors in the women’s bicycle road race were skidding across pools of standing water on the roadway and crashing into water-filled ditches, commentators and athletes were commenting on how pleasant the air was. The air pollution index on the rainy days reached 38, well below the rating of 50 that the World Health Organization deems acceptable. By contrast, the pollution score was in the 70s last Saturday, well above the acceptable mark set out by WHO.

Xinhua News Agency, China’s official press outlet, says another round of rain will wash Beijing’s air over the coming weekend.

Thus far, the visiting members of the press have not made a big deal about the pollution. Most of the “glamor events” of the Games have been held indoors. When gymnastics and swimming end, the focus will be on the outdoor events of track and field. If the pollution index is high during the Olympic marathon, we may be seeing athletes don masks to keep the smog out of their lungs. Ethiopian Haile Gebrselassie, once the favorite to win the 26.2 mile race, has already dropped out, citing worries about the dirty air.

Beijing forces vehicle traffic to halve, subways choke

by Grant Martin on

The great thing about running a communist state is that you can dream up and enforce any crazy rule you want — and the people can’t do anything about it.

China, scrambling to clean up its image as the Olympics draw closer, has been making changes to the landscape left and right — beautifying Beijing, planting flowers and cleaning up the streets.

This week, in an effort to clean up the chronically bad air conditions, the government decided to cut down on vehicle pollution by forcing half of the population to take public transportation. Odd and even ending license plates are now supposed to alternate days that they’re able to drive in the city — and violators are faced with a stiff fine.

As a result, half of the population that formerly commuted by automobile and motorcycle is now trying to cram into the city’s public transportation system. The resulting load on the subway system was recently so great that authorities had to shut down several lines to prevent the suffocating crowds — passengers were only allowed get off of the trains for a while. Perhaps the volumes are a bit larger than the Chinese had predicted.

What would happen to you if you were suddenly forced to take public transportation to work or class? Could you walk far enough to reach the bus or train stop and make it to your morning appointments? Would you let your government prevent you from driving every other day of the week?

We have damaged 96% of our world’s oceans

by Abha Malpani on

See all the orange on this world map? That represents all the damage we have done to our planet’s oceans as a result of fishing, pollution, and activities that are cause for climate change. This is the first time such a map has been drawn out to document the overall impact of human activity and what I see here is shocking and depressing.

Only about 4% of our oceans (near the poles) are relatively untarnished, but marine eco-systems are significantly damaged everywhere else, of which 40% face serious environmental degradation.

The BBC has put together a video that shows the same along with an explanation from Ben Halpern — one of the marine ecologists who helped put this map together.

On a positive note, identifying the problem on a global scale and understanding its seriousness means we are in a better position to work towards fixing things, perhaps with a higher level of consciousness.

When I read information like this, I always feel a lump in my throat because on a personal level I don’t do anything that contributes to helping the situation. Honestly, in this case I don’t even know if I can. I could spend time researching and figuring it out for myself, but I don’t see that happening. Laziness, helplessness, no-time, call it what you will.

Just like is often done for the global-warming issue, the media needs to keep flashing us pointers on how, on an individual level, we can help the situation without having to dedicate all our free time to the cause. Even if a small percentage of people heed the pointers given, in addition to focused efforts by eco-experts, it would help the problem, no?

US cities with bad air quality

by Iva Skoch on

The good news is the air quality in the US has been consistently improving since 1995, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency. The bad news is there are still a lot of cities where you literally shouldn’t even breathe. I find it surprising that California has the most polluted as well as the least polluted US cities.

Number of days metropolitan statistical areas failed to meet acceptable air-quality standards in 2005 (last year for which numbers are available):

  • Bakersfield, CA: 87
  • Baltimore, MD: 27
  • Boston, MA: 1
  • Chicago, IL: 23
  • Cleveland, OH: 25
  • Denver, CO: 1
  • Fresno, CA:64
  • Las Vegas, NV: 2
  • Los Angeles/Long Beach, CA: 45
  • New York, NY: 15
  • Philadelphia, PA:26
  • Riverside-San Bernardino, CA: 103
  • Sacramento, CA: 39
  • San Francisco, CA: 0
  • Seattle, WA: 1

It’s Monday. What Are You Doing Driving Your Car?

by Brett Atkinson on

The 2008 Olympics in Beijing might still be blighted by bad air pollution, but at least the organisers are doing their best to ease the lungs of marathon runners, long distance walkers and overseas visitors. Already China has restricted the number of planes in the air, and a new grassroots solution involving two wheels has just been announced.

Beijing is already a city of bicycles, but during the Olympics an additional 50,000 brand new two-wheelers will be available for rent at more than two hundred outlets handily placed near subway stations and Olympic venues. It’s the latest initiative sponsored by the Beijing Environment Protection Bureau. The Chinese capital has just finished a four day trial where private vehicles with even numbered license plates were banned from roads on Friday and Sunday. On Monday and Saturday odd-numbered cars had to stay in the garage.

Like anything to do with China, the numbers were impressive. An estimated 1.3 million cars were taken out of circulation each day, and subway traffic increased by 200,000 passengers each day. Beijing 2008 should be quite a show.

Thanks to TravelMole for the lead.