Grey skies loom over Games

The Olympic Games are nearly here. It’s less that two weeks until the opening ceremony. Athletes have already voiced concerns over running through the smog. The double Olympic champion Haile Gebrselassie pulled out of the marathon in March because of the smog.

Last week Greenbang took a look at Beijing’s clean up act, but it appears this is not working. At the time of writing China Daily’s headline story was on the Games’ organisers throwing everything possible at the smog problem:

“More vehicles could go off the roads and all construction sites and some more factories in Beijing and its neighboring areas could be closed temporarily if the capital’s air quality deteriorates during the Olympic Games.

Indeed, Li Xin of Beijing’s equivalent of the environment agency has been quoted as saying:

“We will implement an emergency plan 48 hours in advance if the air quality deteriorates during the August 8-24 games,” Li Xin, of the Beijing environmental protection bureau, was quoted as saying.

As the Guardian has reported:

“The amount of particulate matter in the air has failed to reach the national benchmark of 100mg a cubic metre for the past four days. Today, it rose to 113, more than double the far tougher ideal standard of 50 set by the World Health Organisation.”