Beijing Clears the Air For the ‘08 Olympics
With air quality so toxic that Olympic athletes plan to train outside the city, with its international reputation for peace, love and harmony on show for the entire world, Beijing knows it has to clean up its act. The Beijing News (via the New York Times) reports that city officials want to de-smog the world’s most polluted urban atmos by cutting its motorized traffic in half. (That’s up from the one-third target that TTAC’s Adrian Imonti reported back in August.) To that end, the government is considering implementing the number plate restrictions trialled last summer. The move should take about 1.65m vehicles off Beijing’s roads each day during the Games. As you might expect from a military dictatorship, the Powers that Be in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) are contemplating other, equally draconian corrective measures. The Old Gray lady reports that the PRC may also shut down factories throughout northern China during the Games. Paycheck? What paycheck? Gone, in the name of Citius, Altius, Fortius.