Beijing Olympics: How China is coping with the pollution problems...

The Beijing Olympics will be starting soon and China has done a lot in making sure that everything will go well during the Games from the security to ensuring that its citizens will know the proper behaviour that is expected of them throughout the entire duration of the event. However, there seem to be one particular problem that could posed as a setback to the Games and that problem is the level of pollution in the country. Now, Im sure everyone knows that China is one of the major polluter of greenhouse gases in the world, but it has worked very hard in ensuring that pollution won't be a huge problem during the Games itself. So I went to do some research and in my post today, I am going to tell you just some of the measures that are being done by China to control the pollution level.

Beijing's planners have been criticised harshly for doing nothing over recent decades while the city's air quality has plummeted. But they have also been praised in recent years for at least now trying to do something about it. Just last year, city officials have pulled hundreds of private cars off the streets of Beijing in a attempt to test whether such a ban could help ease the smog levels and traffic congestion during the forthcoming 2008 Olympic Games. And for this year alone, Beijing has managed to pull off 3.3 million vehicles off the roads, halting most construction and closing some factories in the capital and surrounding provinces early last month, as part of its measures to control the pollution level. The effect of those measures have been a positive one though. This was further help by favourable weather conditions. According to the Beijing's Environmental Protection Bureau, the daily data since July 20 shows an improvement in air quality. It was also reported that said the air quality had reached acceptable standards during 70 per cent of the year, but since July 1 that had increased to 88 per cent. To be honest with you, that was all I could find regarding what Beijing has done to control the pollution level.

You just have to look at the number of cars on the roads of Beijing to see why they had decided to take drastic measures. China has recently seen a huge numbers of people dump their traditional bicycles for autos and SUV’s adding to China's fast-growing emissions of greenhouse gases. It is expected that the total car ownership in China is going to surpass the U.S. level by 2025. Beijing has been adding cars at the rate of about 1,000 new vehicles a day, a pace that is likely to continue. Some of you might be wondering, why there is a need to kick a big fuss over the pollution issue. That is because it will have an effect on the atheletes performance during the Games and it might not be good for their health. That is why some teams have ordered all the players to undergo a month of intense physical training, including spending time in humidity chambers that replicated the climate in Beijing, like the Dutch football team. There are also other teams that have suggested that they might withdraw from the Games. The Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) for example has announced that Australian athletes will be allowed to withdraw from their events at the Beijing Olympic Games if pollution poses a threat to their health and safety. The U.S. Olympic Committee meanwhile is distributing a high-tech mask, developed in secrecy, to its more than 600 atheletes joining the likes of New Zealand and Japan.

The International Olympic Committee has said endurance sports longer than an hour may be delayed if air quality is not adequate. China has put a lot emphasis in ensuring that the Olympic Games will go smoothly and that it is hoping that the Games will help to showcase that China is a great country to the entire world. The fact that it has spent nearly $17 billion to improve its environment ahead of the Olympics shows the extent that they are willing to go to to organise a great event. Im hoping it to be a great event and Im sure everyone will agree with me when I say we would like to see an Olympic that is free from any problem especially pollution. It would be sad if the whole event will be overwhelmed by the pollution only because it is not about that. I also hope that the current effort to reduce the level of pollution will continue even after the Games and not stop once it is all over. I think it would be sad if all the work is being done only for the event itself, it should be done for the longer term as well. It will only be good for the city and country if they continue their effort.