Watching a magician at work, one develops some kind of strange trust. You know you’re being fooled, yet you’re confident that the sleeve will produce the queen of spades, and the turtledove will come out of the hat. That’s the way it’s always been. Living in China for the last two and a half years, I always believed that no matter what, on August 8, 2008, the sky will somehow clear, the smog will disappear, the air will be fresh, and a light breeze will move the treetops ever so slightly.
Last night I was watching BBC News. In a newscast opener on the Beijing Olympics, the reporter measured three times the safe amount of particles in the air, the camera could hardly see the stadium behind him despite his proximity, and some “Greenpeace China” representative claimed that “Plan B”, including some severe measures to clear the pollution, will be deployed. One of those “severe measures” is to take 90% of the vehicles off the roads for the foreseeable future.
This was when it hit me. The sleeve was empty, and the turtledove suffocated inside the hat. That guy was no magician. I’m starting to realize, as millions of others around the world do, cleaning pollution is many times more difficult than creating it, pollution is the inevitable outcome of double digit industrial growth, rebuilding a city for so many years, with little attention to environmental issues isn’t something one can simply blow on, in hopes it will disappear overnight.
The descriptions on the web about Beijing pollution are interesting. “Under a Cloud”, “Shroud of Haze”, are just a few of the terms used. In all honesty, these are not understatements. The city is extremely gray, hot and humid. It’s been weeks if not months since blue sky has been seen here. We’re only ten days away from the opening ceremony. Am I expecting a miracle? No. I’m expecting a wonderful Olympic Games event, a little on the grayish side…
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