Jon Coifman's Blog
Everybody Talks About the Weather; China is Doing Something About It
August 14, 2007
Posted by Jon Coifman in Greening China
Coverage of the heatlh and environmental challenges that await athletes and spectators at the 2008 Summer Olympics in China is starting to heat up.
Chinese officials have been promising significant cuts the country’s famously terrible air pollution, but results so far are disappointing. June saw the worst air quality levels in seven years, with three times the particulate loading found in our not-so-fabulous New York City air. China’s nitrogen dioxide levels exceed World Health Organization standards by 78 percent.
Come next summer, U.S. athletes competing in the games will be equipped with activated charcoal masks, ibuprofen and asthma medication to combat Beijing's pollution, according to a team spokesman.
So far Olympic organizers are measuring their words carefully, and there has been little in the way of public criticism. But last week International Olympic President Jacques Rogge warned in an interview on CNN that said certain highly aerobic events like cycling at the games could be postponed if the city's air quality is too poor.
Watch the tea leaves carefully as this story develops.
Meanwhile the Chinese do appear to be making headway in efforts to prevent bad weather during the games. As reported in USA Today and elsewhere, officials have dispatched a fleet of 37mm anti-aircraft guns west of Beijing that will fire chemical shells into cloud system, triggering rains that are supposed to exhaust themselves before the weather can reach the capital.
China has been seeding clouds this way since 1958, but never for the sake of a sporting event. Never let it be said that this country lacks for ambition.
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- Jon Coifman
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