Update on Beijing's Air Quality

Last August we blogged about Beijing's persistent smog situation and its effects on the Olympic Games. There was much concern on how the pollution would affect some of the events, specifically the bicycle road races and the centerpiece event, the Marathon.

The anticipated problems almost never cropped up and the Games were considered a resounding success.

It has almost been four months since the Games and we thought of getting an update if the the efforts of the Chinese government in improving the air quality have paid off.

We logged on to http://chinadaily.com.cn, considered as China's largest English language portal and skimmed through its pages. There we found some information regarding the achievements that the Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau have had these last few months.

The government has been monitoring Beijing's Air Pollution Index for the last few years, paying particular attention to "blue-sky days." (It is considered a "blue-sky day" if the Index would fall below 100.) In 1999, when the environmental clean-up started, they were able to monitor only 100 "blue-sky days." Last year, after extreme measures like enforced closure of factories and a mandatory odd-even vehicular coding scheme, the number rose to 246.

Just to show that the program is effective, the Bureau released its latest figures: as of end of November 2008, the number of "blue-sky days" have reached 256. That number is the target for year 2008.

The result just shows that with a determined implementation of an environmental program, success could be achieved.

As for our beloved country, we still believe that similar gains could be had. What we just need here is a more vigilant citizenry that could prod the lethargic bureaucracy to move. This belief is what keeps me going, blogging about the environment, hoping that the small ripples that we make would somehow make even a small impact on government action.