World’s most polluted city (Updated: 7/27/2008)

Satellite image of particulate pollution over Beijing, China.

Update: There are just 12 days to go until the opening ceremony. Exciting times, however will the even/odd license plate number scheme work? Will the artificial rain cleanse the air? Let’s see…

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In anticipation for the 2008 summer Olympics. Beijing and other major metropolitan areas in China are doing everything humanly possible to curb pollution.

The tactics are however, up up for debate. I’ve read that they are only going to allow odd/even number license plates to drive into the city on preassigned week days. That is to say, if your license plate starts with 1,3,5… you are allowed to visit on Mon/Wed/Fri… This method of diverting traffic or curb pollution in the core of the city is nothing new, Europeans have been practicing this for sometimes now.

The biggest difference here, however is democratic forces which lead or contributed to the inevitable. Before we dissect this further, let’s ask this question. What if Beijing isn’t the hosting city for the 2008 Olympics? What if the lenses aren’t going to be focused on the world’s most polluted city on August 8th, 2008? The answer is simple, nothing will be done to alleviate human conditions in Beijing.

There are countless articles and photos on the web documenting the situation, I’ve prepared a couple of links for you.

Tim

http://www.soi.city.ac.uk/~livantes/CHINA/BEIJING/pictures1.html
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/07/03/1968915.htm
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/01/20/beijing.pollution.ap/index.html
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-07/26/content_8775970.htm
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,491184,00.html
http://keetsa.com/blog/reduce/2008-beijing-olympics-clear-the-air-first/