BEIJING'S OLYMPIC SMOG: HOW BAD WILL IT BE?
China's blue-sky blues aren't going away even with factories closings and restricted driving. The region's climate is part of the problem
Tatyana Gershkovich and Catherine Arnst
Business Week, August 1, 2008
A week before the start of the Olympics, Beijing's smog still threatens the Games. The effects of the polluted air are worrying to many Olympic athletes, some of whom have attempted to limit time spent in Beijing. National teams from the U.S., Britain, France, and Germany, to name just a few, have been doing their pre-Olympics training in Japan (BusinessWeek.com, 2/12/08) rather than take their chances in China. Australia's Olympic Committee is giving athletes concerned about the smog's impact on their health the O.K. to withdraw from events. Record-holding Ethiopian distance runner Haile Gebrselassie, who has asthma, has pulled out of the marathon, citing bad air.
Chinese officials knew they had to address the pollution problem (BusinessWeek.com, 7/28/08) and promised Beijing would enjoy "blue sky days" for the duration of the Olympics. To do that, they have shut hundreds of factories and coal-burning plants in Beijing and its environs. They have implemented odd-even day driving restrictions for most Beijing residents, with those who do not obey the rules threatened with a $14 fine. And they have made businesses stagger their hours of operation in order to avoid rush-hour commutes that generate spikes in pollution.
These actions should help reduce what's known as the "urban heat island" effect, in which air warmed by activity in the city creates a heat bubble that traps pollutants. Still, after spending $16 billion to improve the city's air quality by shutting down factories and improving mass transit, taking half the city's 3.3 million cars off the roads each day, and planting 22 million trees, China's leaders must wonder what could be missing when they see gray days like July 31, when smog hung over the city.
(...) [artículo aquí]
China's blue-sky blues aren't going away even with factories closings and restricted driving. The region's climate is part of the problem
Tatyana Gershkovich and Catherine Arnst
Business Week, August 1, 2008
A week before the start of the Olympics, Beijing's smog still threatens the Games. The effects of the polluted air are worrying to many Olympic athletes, some of whom have attempted to limit time spent in Beijing. National teams from the U.S., Britain, France, and Germany, to name just a few, have been doing their pre-Olympics training in Japan (BusinessWeek.com, 2/12/08) rather than take their chances in China. Australia's Olympic Committee is giving athletes concerned about the smog's impact on their health the O.K. to withdraw from events. Record-holding Ethiopian distance runner Haile Gebrselassie, who has asthma, has pulled out of the marathon, citing bad air.
Chinese officials knew they had to address the pollution problem (BusinessWeek.com, 7/28/08) and promised Beijing would enjoy "blue sky days" for the duration of the Olympics. To do that, they have shut hundreds of factories and coal-burning plants in Beijing and its environs. They have implemented odd-even day driving restrictions for most Beijing residents, with those who do not obey the rules threatened with a $14 fine. And they have made businesses stagger their hours of operation in order to avoid rush-hour commutes that generate spikes in pollution.
These actions should help reduce what's known as the "urban heat island" effect, in which air warmed by activity in the city creates a heat bubble that traps pollutants. Still, after spending $16 billion to improve the city's air quality by shutting down factories and improving mass transit, taking half the city's 3.3 million cars off the roads each day, and planting 22 million trees, China's leaders must wonder what could be missing when they see gray days like July 31, when smog hung over the city.
(...) [artículo aquí]
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