Where there’s a will, there’s a way
Posted by SCapozzola on July 21st, 2008
Apparently, there’s a price tag for cleaner air. Reuters reported yesterday that China has spent 120 billion Yuan ($17.58 billion) to clean the air around Beijing. And with government officials racing frantically to scrub the smog from Beijing’s skies, they’ve now institute a number of emergency measures, including new traffic restrictions and factory closures.
Reuters’ Ben Blanchard reports that under new rules “cars are banned on alternate days depending on their license plate number and most official cars have been impounded. Only taxis and Olympic vehicles are exempt.”
Beijing has more than 3.3 million cars, and adds 1,000 new automobiles each day. Blanchard notes that “most building work has also halted and almost all earth and cement works have been closed, along with a string of factories — including many in other provinces. Some are more than 100 kilometers away.”
ManufactureThis is struck by the crisp effectiveness by which the People’s Republic is currently working to clear its pollution. These all-out efforts to cleanse Beijing of smog and particulate matter are even being extending to the use of “cold fireworks” (which produce less smoke than ordinary fireworks) during the opening celebrations.
The key point is that Beijing knows the eyes of the world are upon them. Thus the effort to hide millions of cubic feet of sulphur dioxide and other noxious emissions. One might wonder, however, if this pollution is so toxic, why the country doesn’t make more of an effort in every day life to keep their skies clear?
The answer is that disregard for environmental standards is yet one more way for China’s factories to undercut their foreign competition. And so, while U.S. factories must adhere to strict exhaust controls, Beijing happily looks the other way when their factories churn out grey plumes of SO2 and other fun byproducts.
Of course, it’s a different story when the Olympics are in town…
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