Perhaps this could be the catalyst for some real change (in China and the developing world) as well as a nice reminder to the developed world (especially a certain administration trying to gut the Clean Air Act).
I just got back from six days in Beijing. The pollution was very bad on the first two days, but the skies cleared markedly for the rest of the trip. I would say that for four days it was typical-big-city air -- not exactly clean, but nothing that experienced athletes would worry about. Whether that was a happy coincidence -- I was there with delegates from 200 other NOCs -- or due to BOCOG's good management, I can't say. Probably mostly luck, but still hopeful. BOCOG still has some short-term solutions (or cunning plans, as Abiezer calls them) in its pocket for showtime. During the seminar it was clear that the "Green Olympics" theme was central to BOCOG's message. We were bombarded with material (posters, books, brochures, speeches, and newspaper articles) assuring us that things are getting better, environmentally speaking. Here's another article on this subject, from today's papers.
MY guess is they could try traffic calming and idle some factories around the time of the Games, but it just seems like one year is too little time for any meaningful or even superficial change. I hope I'm wrong, for the sake of the athletes, and more importantly, people living in China.
