Before the Olympics this summer, China removed half its cars from the roads in attempts to cut down pollution.  During the Games, pollution seemed to be kept at bay in Beijing, so it looks like China thinks it may be on to something.  The Washington Post reports today that the Chinese Government is enacting rules to remove thirty percent of cars from Beijing roadways every day.  From the article,

Beginning Oct. 11, Chinese motorists will also stop driving one workday a week, based on the final number on their license plates. The new rules should take 800,000 vehicles off the roads each day, according to reports quoting Wang Zhaorong of Beijing’s Municipal Traffic Committee. There are 3.5 million cars in Beijing, and more than 1,000 vehicles are added each day, according to government statistics.

The Chinese people, we are told (consider the source is the New Beijing News), are overwhelmingly in favor of the plan, as it will cut commute times drastically.

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Though China enacted some pollution-controlling measures (we may have mentioned some of the issues around that) in the months prior to the Olympics (and I haven’t actually heard much about any pollution problems since the games started), the country is also making policy changes that will hopefully curb pollution in the long run. In a not-so-subtle nudge for Chinese consumers, the Finance Ministry is raising taxes on large cars, while simultaneously lowering taxes on small ones. From the Associated Press, as reported in The Detroit News:

The tax on passenger vehicles with engines bigger than 4 liters will be doubled to 40 percent from 20 percent, effective Sept. 1, the Finance Ministry said Wednesday in a statement on its Web site. Those buying vehicles with engines sized from 2 liters up to 4 liters will have to pay a 25 percent tax, up from the current 15 percent, it said.

Cars with engines up to one liter in size will have their tax dropped from three percent to one percent.

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I’ve never really considered the direct international implications of polluting, mainly because thinking takes energy and can be difficult and stuff, but it turns out the pollution in China is having an adverse effect on Alaska’s environment. The Peninsula Clarion in Alaska reports:

Industrial pollutants from China’s increasingly robust use of coal are plating out across the globe, including here in Alaska, brought here by storms crossing the Pacific Ocean transporting tons of airborne chemicals that shower onto coastal waters and inland where it they end up in the local food chain, according to scientists studying the phenomenon.

The scientists doing their sciency thing can study the pollutants to find the original source, which is why they can say as a certainty the pollution in Alaska is coming from China. As well, they are attempting to measure the percentage of overall pollution in the United States coming from China, and the numbers are a little frightening.

A Scientific American article published online this week noted that a brown cloud leaving China is visible from space ‘and takes about a week to cross the Pacific to the western U.S., where it accounts for as much as 15 percent of the air pollution.’

You can takepart here to find more articles about airborne pollution.

Yao Ming, Chinese basketball star famous for his 7’ 6” frame, has been elected the first ever UN Environment Champion at the Beijing Olympics. Ming might not have been able to lead his team to victory during the U.S.-Chinese game, but this eco-distinction is sure to inspire more environmental awareness in his home country and abroad. It’s all about baby steps, or in Ming’s case, a Goliath-sized gait. Ming has pledged to “work with young people around the world to raise awareness about green issues and to try to inspire them to plant trees, use energy-efficient light bulbs, harvest rain water and personally advocate for a healthier environment,” according to the U.N. Environment Program. Here’s more from The Daily Green:

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Olympics Olympics Olympics! We love the good, the bad, the ugly and everything in between when it comes to the 2008 Beijing Olympics here at TakePart.  It’s reason enough not to miss our Top 10 Stories about the Olympic Games, which we’ve been reporting on in the months leading up to now. Catch the best in TakePart Olympic news below:

1) 2008 Olympic Torch Relay Will Create 11 Million Pounds of CO2 by Nicole Hughes

The 2008 Olympic torch relay hasn’t galvanized a lot of warm fuzzy feelings and hand holding this year. Opposition to China’s treatment of Tibet has inspired international protests, with some dissenters even managing to snuff out the torch and delay the tour… [click here for the full story]

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The TakePart Top 10 Weekly Roundup is a compilation of the week’s most notable stories from our entertainment-meets-social-action blogging network. Check out some of our most popular stories of the week, as well as a few TakePart blogger favorites!

TakePart Gang:

35 Million Tons of Toxic Stew by Wendy Cohen

“Waterboard Thrill Ride” Opens At Coney Island by Blair Golson

* * *

Nicole Hughes:

Green Summer Music Tours Not To Be Missed

Eat Your Veggies: Quit Composting in the Fridge

* * *

Andy Kondrat:

Almost Half of Earth’s Primates In Danger of Extinction

Beijing’s Pollution Not Gone, Just Moved Outside of Town

* * *

Jon Popham:

GOP: Drill More Oil Or We’ll Shut Down the Government

Global Warming’s “Sausage Fest” Effect

* * *

Gina Telaroli:

Olympic Flag Bearer for the US: A Champion of  Darfur

Time to Act: Sexual Assault and Women in the Military

You may have noticed quite a bit of information flowing from this website concerning the city of Beijing and the problem of pollution leading up to the Olympic Games, but by no means is this problem limited to China’s capital city. As the city itself has been working to clear the air around the area the games will be held, high-polluting factories haven’t simply shut down around Beijing - they’ve been moved to outlying regions.

The Washington Post reports that when China was given the Summer Games back in 2001, the government immediately went to work reducing pollution around Beijing. But the main goal, it seems, has not been to reduce pollution around the country. One such example from the article:

As recently as five years ago, [one] region about 125 miles east of Beijing was a resort, and its sea overflowed with pike, flounder and carp. Now there are few fish, and it’s a rare day when Zhang, 53, can see the sun through the smoke. She can tell the direction of the winds from the color of the soot blowing by her home. The gray iron deposits come from the southern steel mills, while the white powder comes from chemical factories, and black dust from coal and coking plants.

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The Olympic Games start tomorrow, and though China has made concerted efforts to cut pollution down before the games begin, today the residents of Beijing woke up to a “white smog,” a phenomenon occurring when pollution is so thick that a skyline is virtually invisible.

How thick is a white smog, you ask? ABC (this is the Australian one, not the Disney one) puts it pretty well as such: “The smog is so thick that passers-by on the streets fail to cast shadows.” Gross. But if rain does hit Beijing tomorrow afternoon, as forecasted, the smog may dissipate prior to the Opening Ceremonies.

Way before this development, the pollution had already become such an issue some athletes had decided not to compete for health reasons. And this isn’t really helping any. At this point, though, it’s up to nature to hopefully lend a helping hand so that the events can proceed unhindered. As it’s not so likely you can take action to help unpollute Beijing before the Opening Ceremony, instead you can takepart here to see fifty ways you can reduce your own pollution output.

Studies like the one published in Environmental Health Perspectives last week prove what we should already intuitively know - that coal pollution is bad for your health. The study showed that children in the city of Tongliang in China who were born after the closing of a coal burning plant had 60 percent fewer developmental problems than those children who were born before the closing. Additionally, children born after the closing of the plant had 40% lower levels of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in the cord blood.

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The potential effect of China’s pollution on the 2008 Summer Olympic Games is becoming more and more obvious, as the world record holder in the men’s marathon stated a few months back he will not compete due to pollution, and now the woman’s world record holder says that the pollution could force her to wear a mask when not competing.  Yesterday, Paula Radcliffe stated that the use of a mask while in Beijing may be necessary to help keep her asthma in check.  In an interview with BBC Radio, she said,

“I think the biggest factor is going to be runny eyes, runny nose and sore throat after the event - and if things go according to plan in the race, I don’t particularly care. The biggest thing for me is to make sure my asthma is under control - which it is - and minimise the effects of pollution in the lead-up to the race.” [news.scotsman.com]

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