The Beijing Olympics are now only five weeks away and speculation about the air quality continues. Top marathon runner, Haile Gebrselassie, an asthma sufferer, has pulled out of that event but, he hopes to run in the 10,000-metre .
The Times decided to do their own research.
Last week The Sunday Times used an industrial hand-held air monitor to measure the number of particles in the atmosphere, which include car emissions and coal dust from factories. The particles are considered the biggest polluting factor.
The average reading at the stadium was 780,000 particles per litre of air. Even factoring in a 25% margin of error for humidity levels exaggerating the readings, this is more than five times the amount deemed safe by the WHO. The organisation considers 105,000 particles per litre of air a health risk.
The measurements were taken at the National Stadium and Tiananmen Square, the starting point of the marathon. Those figures look pretty bad there. Although, I really have no perception of what the World Health Organization would consider to be good quality air. I mean, it’s all just numbers. I suppose it’s possible that someone could come down here to the campground in the woods, where charcoal use has run rampant over the weekend, with an industrial hand-held air monitor and find that we aren’t up to WHO standards. Who knows?
The thing is this, nobody argues that the air quality in Beijing hasn’t been a cause for concern. The Chinese government has been taking some steps to clean up the air. But, the big question is, will the air quality in Beijing be at a safe level for the Olympics?
Here is a quote from Du Shaozhong, deputy director of Beijing’s Environmental Protection Bureau.
“We made a commitment to ensure air quality for the Olympic Games . . . as for whether we have reached the goal, that will be examined after the event.”
That will be examined after the even? Thanks for that one Du Shaozhong. Seems like the safe thing to do would be to examine whether you reached you goal of ensuring air quality before the event. That’s not how they roll in Beijing. I guess it goes like this; after the Olympics, upon further examination, if we find that athletes were dropping like flies then, the Chinese government’s commitment to ensure air quality sucked. I guess.
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Tags: Air Quality, Beijing, Du Shaozhong, Gebrselassie
J wrote,
Confucius say “Man who stand on hill with mouth open will wait long time for roast duck to drop in.”
I guess the charcoal drops in first.
J’s last blog post..Masters of Song-Fu #2 @ QuickStop
Link | July 6th, 2008 at 5:32 pm
Pat Darnell And Friends wrote,
By mhblatt • January 28, 2008
“The sportive, knightly battle awakens the best human characteristics. It doesn’t separate, but unites the combatants in understanding and respect. He also helps to connect the countries in the spirit of peace. That’s why the Olympic Flame should never die.”
-Adolf Hitler
Pat Darnell And Friends’s last blog post..Hmmmmmmmm….. that’sa lotta data, and lot’sa bucks
Link | July 6th, 2008 at 11:37 pm
Pribek wrote,
No fireworks ban around here J so, more than likely, you’d get a bottle rocket too while waiting on that duck.
PD-The above link has a pretty good summary of why this version of the Olympics is another bogus example of using the games as a political, public relations and sales tool. A practice that Adolf pioneered.
Link | July 7th, 2008 at 11:26 am