Pacific Spirit Marine Institute

Tossing money at it won’t fix the planet’s problems.

Monday, July 28, 2008

Bejing has spent at least $17 Billion dollars to clean up only it’s air
quality for the 08-08-08 Olympics. They’ve closed down, moved or otherwise quashed every factory, plant or other operation that belched pollution into the air.

One of China’s great hopes was to clear their filthy air so that people could actually see the games.

If the definition of insanity is doing the same thing the same way, over and over,but expecting somehow, someway, that the outcome will change; the Chinese are definately sane.

They’re bustin’ moves the likes of which haven’t been seen before.

These are unpresedented actions in the quest to clean-up the air and yet the outcome doesn’t change. Bad air and poor visability; company’s coming and the place is a mess.

Ordering more than 1 Million cars off the streets is a huge committment. Still after all of these measures and tossing $17 Billion at the problem it still hasn’t been fixed. In fact levels of microscopic particulates “suspended in the air remain stubbornly high” although some levels of carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide have been reduced.

In some places the sky seems to get a good scouring after a rain leaving the air crisp and clean, but not in Beijing. Guo Hu, director of the Beijing Meteorological
Observatory says the rainy weather has reduced visibility in the city.

Believe none of what you read and half of what you see.

Or, believe none of what you see either…Du Shaozhong, Beijing’s Environmental Protection Bureau says observers should not rely on the visual appearance of the sky.

Du still says, “We can guarantee good air quality during the Games.”

Crazy Eights.

Maybe that guarantee has more to do with astrology and numerology than science. The chinese gave much thought and planning into opening the Games on 08-08-08 at 8:08:08 p.m. China Standard Time in Beijing.

There is a point to all of this…

The monumental actions China has taken to clean-up the air illustrate that, laying on the breaks can’t stop a downward racing locamotive. We should all be sobered by the fact that once we’ve hit the tipping point, no amount of money, time or lucky eights can fix what is broken.

Photo July 27, 2008 James Fallows, link to his amazing smog chronicle as it unfolds in Beijing.

Labels: Air Pollution, China, Climate Change, Olympics, Smog