ENVIRONMENT

Keeping It Green

It wasn't all for show. China opts to keep in place some of its Olympics Games pollution control.

By Melinda Liu | NEWSWEEK
Published Oct 11, 2008
From the magazine issue dated Oct 20, 2008

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  • Posted By: samsu @ 05/27/2009 1:08:22 AM

    <Have a look

    <a href=" http://www.commonfloor.com/green-living?f=sp64">Green living</a>
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  • Posted By: samsu @ 05/27/2009 1:05:44 AM

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  • Posted By: Charles H @ 10/14/2008 5:35:33 PM

    London restricts auto traffic in the inner city, if you want to drive to mid city London, you pay a heft surcharge for that privelige. It works.

    • Posted By: Braes @ 10/15/2008 9:13:59 AM

      God I miss the tubes, "Mind the Gap!"

  • Posted By: krtuna @ 10/13/2008 1:34:22 PM

    "Mao Tse-Tung killed an estimated 2 to 5 million Chinese citizens who did not "believe" in red china." The Cultural Revolution happened in the 60's and Mao is dead and gone, no longer killing anyone. Yes, China is Communist. Yes, they have strict policies and yes, they do sometimes kill those who protest against the government (or at least the military or local officials do). But China has changed drastically in the last 40 years - they are not the "regime" they once were.
    I also don't see why their form of government matters - striving to fix their pollution problem is wonderful. I lived in Bejing and the pollution and traffic was insane. Beijing is a massive city - imagine doubling NYC and then increasing the population, then giving everyone a car. Then try to breath. Beijing has a decent public transportation system and they were just starting to expand their subways when I was there. Their ring road system is fairly easy to understand. If they can improve their buses and increase the reach of their subway, many people wouldn't want to drive anyway. I think there is no problem with a major city restricting driving privileges - there are more people living in that city than you could fit in cars on the road anyway - as long as they offer good alternatives in public transportation, which they do. "Red" has nothing to do with it.

    • Posted By: celticdreaming @ 10/13/2008 10:21:15 PM

      Thank you. This was a very thoughtful post. I am not going to condemn the people of China for getting behind the 'Green' possibilities because of the actions of their governements past actions in other matters. I think the country getting behind an environmental issue is to be applauded.

      "And soon the government is slated to unveil 1,000 clean-energy public-transport vehicles in 10 Chinese cities. Beijing introduced 23 fuel-cell cars, 470 electric vehicles and 102 hybrids during the Games, and drivers loved them. Wan says local officials and citizens are warming to the green vehicles, too. "

      Too bad our own governement can't seem to warm up to the idea of more electric cars, hybrids, and fuel-cells...and make it affordable for the average American without said American having to go into debt for over $20,000 to get one.

      Why does it take our car companies YEARS to be able to offer us a readily available alternative car? without have to be put on a waiting list? What? You can up production on oil but not on vehicles that are wanted? Oh wait...I forgot the vested interest OIL companies have in CAR companies. silly me.

      • Posted By: Braes @ 10/15/2008 9:13:15 AM

        If the Chevy Volt is not available within a year or so, I will get a Prius and do the conversion. I want to give the US company one last chance. It is about the workers on the line, not the <Expletive> rotten <Expletive> <Expletive> worthless pieces of <Expletive> in management. As for the monopolists and oligarchs, see the <Expletives> as applied to Oil as well. Capone had more decency.

  • Posted By: politicallyincorrect.usa @ 10/13/2008 9:27:39 AM

    The only "green" China is interested in is made of paper, has a president's picture on it, a number, the higher the better, starts with the letter "M" and we owe them lots of it. I find believeng in Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny more feasible than China caring or doing anything about the environment. Nice dream though.

    • Posted By: Braes @ 10/15/2008 9:06:18 AM

      I think you might want to recalibrate. China is really about image more than you realize. There is a reason they are embarked on a space program, the Games, etc. China wants to be a leader, and if they thought it would advance their cause, I feel rather convinced they would paint the place in Gold and spend what it took to do it. They consider themselves the last Communist Vanguard.

  • Posted By: p26pper @ 10/13/2008 9:18:45 AM

    Green....yea like all the non-green stuff goes into toohpaste, food, and toys. Its easy to be green in your country when you send to unsuspecting consumers around the world. Green,,,give me a break.

    • Posted By: Braes @ 10/15/2008 9:03:06 AM

      My joke is that they export us poison, and we repay them with fraudulent securities. (I forget to whom it is attributable)

  • Posted By: Bernhard Meck @ 10/13/2008 9:42:52 AM

    The Chinese have the potential to recognize quickly the lessons we in the west learned the hard way by trial and error. Not just traffic and environmental regulations were introduced for good reasons but also regulations relating to food safety, coal-fired power plants to name a few that are very important to China. They may even become leaders in alternative, renewable energy sources. This while skeptics in this country still blame 'regulations' on all that is 'wrong' with the system, and advocate 'drill-baby' as a way to deal with tomorrow's issues. Thumbs up for China!

    • Posted By: Braes @ 10/13/2008 10:23:34 AM

      I hope China can set standards on environmental quality. They surely have the government in place to do it. I hope they get to domestically produced electric/zero-emission cars, and cleaner sources of electricity.
      They have already lifted more people from poverty in the last 20 years than we have ever.

      • Posted By: mason7521 @ 10/13/2008 11:10:51 AM

        "They have the government in place to do it?" Need we remind you it is a communist regime!
        "They have already lifted more people from poverty in the last 20 years than we have ever"
        Mao Tse-Tung killed an estimated 2 to 5 million Chinese citizens who did not "believe" in red china.
        Wake up and put the latte down, step away from Berkeley please....
        China is red, that means communist, that means you don't agree with them, you're dead in China.

        • Posted By: Braes @ 10/15/2008 8:59:36 AM

          You need to read quite a few more of my posts. They have the Government in place to do it is a solid refrence to the 'efficiency' of totalitarianism. Brutal efficiency.
          As for all of the personal attacks, I take it that you are so razor edged hateful that you blindly assign motives.
          I only care about what kind of Government they have when faced with their immigrants. If you took the time to dig around a little bit, you might find that I support the Uighurs, who are persecuted because of their faith in a 'near-godless' society.
          I have also mentioned that tens of thousands are killed there mining coal every year, that their industrial safety and quality standards are abysmal, and that their governemnt is openly deceptive about those practices.
          Don't let the facts get in the way of a personal attack. I take my coffee brewed at home.
          The fact that I am not repeatedly pounding tham, but folloing the thread of the article, might be context.
          Have a nice hate-filled day there, Republican.

  • Posted By: ducdebrabant @ 10/13/2008 2:20:42 PM

    They didn't "banish the doubters." The haze diminished, but not as much as the Chinese pretended (they moved the pollution sensers around to the places where the readings happened to be the lowest). Even with pollution reduced, there was still plenty of it, and there still is.

  • Posted By: cbdempsey @ 10/13/2008 1:14:51 PM

    I enjoy reading the reactions of readers who seem to think that A) it is all China's fault that pollution levels in that country are as high as they are; and B) that the greening of the Chinese environment is a simple result of a command government.

    First, we as Americans (and Europeans) must first and foremost acknowledge the role we have played in contaminating China's air and water. We have purposely exported the most dangerous, disgusting and polluting jobs and industries to China in an effort to clean up our environments. In the 30 years from 1949 to 1979, we did all we could to convince the Chinese to be just like us. For the last 30 years, 1979-2009, they have listened, and done a remarkable job of alleviating poverty, to the detriment of the environment and their health. Now we do all that we can to condemn them for these two phenomenon.

    While I do not dispute the Chinese governments extreme repression, we also must give credit to the Chinese people for the current wave of greening in that country. The Chinese people overwhelmingly supported the ban on the use of plastic bags. Why can we in the west not accomplish this? it is the Chinese citizen, not the government that is the true catalyst of environmental protection. As their standards of living have increased, so too have their demands for a cleaner environment. They realize that it is the air, the water, the food and the products that are killing an estimated 750,000 of them per year. The government is now reacting to the people's demands for a cleaner environment. Not so much because they care about their people as much as they are afraid of the domestic consequences of doing nothing. There is a strong undercurrent of resentment, and discontent among the Chinese population. The Chinese government listens attentively to these undercurrents, because in China, it has always been the poor and under-represented that have overthrown the Chinese establishment throughout history.

  • Posted By: gth00p12 @ 10/13/2008 12:42:39 PM

    I wish I lived in a society where I didn't have to own a car and could take public transportation to work. The car may give us the illusion of freedom, but in reality it has made slaves out of all of us. Think of all the money you have to spend on the car, insurance, gas, repairs, additional taxes for street lights and roads, ... That's a lot of money every year I'd rather spend on other things. But alas, our cities and our society has evolved around the illusion that cars give us freedom.

  • Posted By: lissss @ 10/13/2008 12:25:40 PM

    why do I feel like there are chinese goverment officials on this board. Its fine if there are, just dont try and be sneaky about it. To usezguy: I dont see any reason to extend an apology. China has dirty air and still has dirty air. I wont apologize but issue a big THANK YOU for taking an effort in STARTING to clean up. Keep up the good work, mister goverment man.

  • Posted By: usezguy @ 10/13/2008 10:01:10 AM

    I just want to remind everyone that huge doubts and critics on the air quality dominate the news media before the Olympics. Has anyone made apology for their "pre-mature' prediction? No one. However, everyoone is impressed with the efforts they made and results it showed. Do not under estimate the determination of the government. BTW, we have to reminde ourself, that owning a car is a privilege, NOT a rights. You can critize, protest and make fun of the government policy, but at the end of the day, driving is just a privilege. You have to put the public interest at first.

  • Posted By: marina85 @ 10/13/2008 9:57:40 AM

    Reducing the number of cars on the road solves problems that go beyond environmental concerns. In Beijing, there's simply too many cars on the street-- implementing restrictions not only allows for bluer skies but also ameliorates the unbelievable traffic congestion in the city.

    I currently live in Beijing, and during the Olympics-- thanks to the government restrictions on cars-- it took me 15 minutes to to get to work every morning and another 15 to get back home in the evenings. Now that the regulation is off, the commute takes me an hour. I guess there's something to be done about it.

  • Posted By: lzeng99 @ 10/13/2008 9:06:53 AM

    It is showmethetruth who should wake up. I bet he has never been out of the country and see the world for what it is instead being fed by the American propaganda. Thank god there are not too many of them here, otherwise who knows how many other country will be made an enemy of US just b/c they are different. What a loon for being a troll.

    • Posted By: 1homeZhongguo @ 10/13/2008 9:52:57 AM

      you don't need to leave any country to understand propaganda...if leaving the country were criteria for understanding or dispelling propaganda, it's likely that over1 billion people in China would not have a voice in such matters....All countries, including the US and China create and voice propaganda, it's a matter of what you choose to believe...personally speaking any country with expressed freedom of press has my vote over one where the press is controlled by the government. The facts are that data released by the Chinese government indicates that China is very polluted, maybe that is propaganda, too, but any move to clean the air, lakes, rivers, costal waters (or milk)will be a great improvement that the people of China deserve...

  • Posted By: ChineseCurrents.com @ 10/13/2008 9:41:16 AM

    As average income increases and as more people move to the suburbs, car sales are bound to follow the same upward curves. Expect, then, to see more measures imposed that are designed to curb usage (and reduce demand). The Beijing motorist is likely to face higher car taxes; more expensive fuel; more restrictions on when and where he or she can drive; more bus-lanes; higher city-centre parking fees; and even a congestion charge. No doubt that the governments ??? and car-owners ??? of other Chinese cities with similar problems will be watching closely.

  • Posted By: showmethetruth @ 10/13/2008 8:43:47 AM

    Do you really believe what any official of China says? Deception is part of the statis quo there...leopards don't change their spots over night. Even at the games they were so bold to lipsync the nation anthem for the sake of appearences. And what about the ages of their gymnasts? And by the way, how much of the US does China own? Do they also own Newsweek? It's distressing to see the propaganda wheel churning in main stream media. Next thing you know the leaders of China will be up for a Noble peace prize...wake up...what a joke!!! Bail Out=Bondage...America home of the free(-bound )and the brave-(cowardice)....

  • Posted By: showmethetruth @ 10/13/2008 8:22:38 AM

    And you believe what they say ..they had a young girl lip synking during the performances...and of course the questions on the ages of their gymnast...what else were/are they deceptive about?....How much of the US does China own? Do they own Newsweek, too?

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