Olympic Air Quality - Beijing 2008
Contributed by Mara
With the Beijing summer Olympics just around the corner, most of us have already heard about the problems with China’s air quality and some of the drastic measures being taken to improve it before the Olympics next month. On July 20th, Beijing will be implementing a regulation to keep cars with odd and even license plate numbers off the road on alternating days. Many of the city’s major industrial polluters are going to minimize their emissions for the next while in an attempt to improve air quality in the city. Beijing has also been making an effort to increase green space, and convert coal plants to natural gas.
Despite these efforts, some athletes have decided not to participate in this Olympics, fearing that the health risk is just too great. According to an article in The Independent, endurance athletes breathe in about 10 times the amount of air that an average office worker breathes. Despite China’s efforts, pollution in Beijing will still remain high, putting Olympic athletes at risk.
According to an article in American Medical News, the Beijing air pollution problem should be one of the biggest health concerns for anyone who plans to visit the Olympics as a spectator, much more so than infectious diseases like the oft hyped Avian flu (unless you happen to be a chicken). The article is also critical of Beijing’s indoor air quality because so much of the population smokes, and there are no regulations to prevent anyone from lighting up indoors.
Clearly, the air quality risks run high at the 2008 summer Olympics. While China’s efforts to curb air pollution for the games will only make a small dent on the problem, the silver lining is that increased environmental awareness in China and the pressure of being watched by the world will hopefully lead to a long term shift.
Tags: avian flu, beijing, indoor air quality, olympics, smoking
