Armed with hand-held air pollution detectors, the BBC has put Beijing’s air to the test four weeks before the Olympic games. The results? The city flunked, its notoriously dirty air exceeding World Health Organization standards on six of seven recent days. The BBC measured particulate matter from cars, trucks, and factories, an excess of which casts a pall over the Chinese capital on most days. On one day, the BBC said, the level of particulates in Beijing’s air was seven times greater than WHO standards. When it won its bid for the Olympics in 2001, Beijing vowed that its air quality would meet WHO guidelines. Chinese officials — who are temporarily closing hundreds of factories in and around Beijing before and during the games and also plan to restrict traffic — maintain that there is still time to clean up the capital’s air before the games start.
Beijing’s Air Flunks Test One Month Before Start of Olympics
More From E360
-
Climate
Scientists Are Trying to Coax the Ocean to Absorb More CO2
-
INTERVIEW
Marina Silva on Brazil’s Fight to Turn the Tide on Deforestation
-
Solutions
Solomon Islands Tribes Sell Carbon Credits, Not Their Trees
-
INTERVIEW
With Sea Turtles in Peril, a Call for New Strategies to Save Them
-
RIVERS
Jared Kushner Has Big Plans for Delta of Europe’s Last Wild River
-
Energy
A Nuclear Power Revival Is Sparking a Surge in Uranium Mining
-
OPINION
Despite Official Vote, the Evidence of the Anthropocene Is Clear
-
INTERVIEW
At 11,500 Feet, a ‘Climate Fast’ to Save the Melting Himalaya
-
Oceans
Octopuses Are Highly Intelligent. Should They Be Farmed for Food?
-
Climate
Nations Are Undercounting Emissions, Putting UN Goals at Risk
-
Solutions
As Carbon Air Capture Ramps Up, Major Hurdles Remain
-
ANALYSIS
How China Became the World’s Leader on Renewable Energy