As the Olympic countdown reaches hours rather than days before kick-off, speculation about the weather condition become less abstract – will the pollution clear? – and more real – has it or not? However even now the issue of air pollution is a little hazy (apologies); conflicting stories seem and contrasting conditions seem to be [...]
Archive for the ‘Environment’ Category
Beijing’s Air Pollution Issue Is As Clear It’s The Skies
Posted in Air pollution, Beijing, Environment, Uncategorized, tagged Air pollution, Beijing Olympics, beijing pollution, olympic pollution, us cycling on 8 August 2008 | 2 Comments »
Paula Radcliffe’s Olympics On A Knife Edge
Posted in Air pollution, Athletes, Environment, Protests, The Games, tagged beijing olympic games, Beijing Olympics, london marathon, marathon, olympic marathon, paula radcliffe on 22 May 2008 | 4 Comments »
Paula Radcliffe has been focussing on very little this year apart from the Beijing Olympics, particularly since missing the London Marathon with a toe injury. But now it appears that another injury may rule out her chances in China too. On Wednesday an MRI scan revealed a stress fracture in her left femur.
Radcliffe’s chances of [...]
Flood Threat Hampers Beichuan Quake Relief
Posted in Environment, Media, tagged beichuan, beichuan earthquake, beichuan evacuation, earthquake, evacuation, sichuan earthquake, wenchuan earthquake on 17 May 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Beichuan was struck by panic today (Saturday) and hurriedly evacuated, as rumours spread through the quake-ravaged city that a river up-mountain had burst its banks. Fear of flood waters bearing down on the remains of the city were enough to prompt a complete evacuation, halting the rescue efforts in their tracks.
The BBC’s Paul Danahar has [...]
Olympic Torch Relay Scaled Back In Respect
Posted in Environment, Protests, olympic torch, tagged chinese earthquake, earhtquake, sichuan, wenchuan, wenchuan earthquake on 13 May 2008 | 1 Comment »
It seems rather futile blogging about other issues in light of the fact that thousands of people still left buried by the Earthquake in Sichuan. The death toll now exceeds 12,000 and is sure to increase. The Olympics seem relatively trivial.
The New York Times (via CDT) describes how many people in China have been incensed [...]
7.8 Magnitude Earthquake Hits Sichuan
Posted in Environment, tagged beichuan, earthquake, quake, suchuan, wenchuan on 12 May 2008 | 3 Comments »
The largest natural disaster to hit China in decades has struck in to the Sichuan county of Wenchuan. An earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale occurred at 1428 Beijing time, on Monday.
The worst hit area appears to be Beichuan county, 50km from the epicentre, where the BBC reports that 80% of buildings were destroyed [...]
Wild China, A Wild Success
Posted in Culture, Environment, Media, tagged bbc, cctv, chinese landscape, guilin, wild china, zhangjiajie on 11 May 2008 | 2 Comments »
Wild China, the joint venture between the BBC and CCTV aired earlier this evening on BBC 2, and it was spectacular!
“The last hidden world… China.”
An audacious opening line to the series, which epitomises the mystery that still surrounds China in much of the rest of the world. Having spent a long time with borders closed, [...]
Paula Radcliffe Offers Olympics a Breath of Fresh Air
Posted in Air pollution, Athletes, Environment, Protests, olympic torch, tagged Air pollution, Beijing Olympics, beijing pollution, haile gabrselassie, olympic torch, olympics, paula radcliffe, pollution, Tibetan protests on 10 April 2008 | 3 Comments »
Some good news for the IOC and BOGOC this week came like a breath of fresh air after the torment of the torch relay; an athlete announced that pollution in Beijing will not be a big problem. Not just any athlete either, but marathon world record holder, and London Olympic torch bearer, Paula Radcliffe.
via the [...]
Pollution puts Gabrselassie out of Beijing marathon
Posted in Air pollution, Athletes, Beijing, Environment, tagged Air pollution, beijing air pollution, beijing marathon, Haile Gebrselassie, marathon world record, olympic marathon on 10 March 2008 | 8 Comments »
The marathon world record holder Haile Gebrselassie will not compete in this event at the Beijing Olympics, because he fears the impact of Beijing air pollution on his health. The 34-year-old, widely regarded as the best distance runner of all time, suffers from asthma:
“The pollution in China is a threat to my health and it [...]
Heading off-road in search of blue skies
Posted in Air pollution, Beijing, Environment, Preparation, tagged Air pollution, beijing air pollution, Beijing Olympics, beijing traffic, car ban, Environment on 24 January 2008 | 1 Comment »
News reports this week about the Olympics have been dominated by the publication of the plan to keep half of Beijing’s cars off the road for the duration of the Games this summer. The objectives being to reduce congestion and improve air quality.
The NYT has picked up on this with an interesting interview with ‘the [...]
Ceremony rehearsal plans announced
Posted in Environment, Preparation, The Games, Tickets, tagged artificial mitigation of rains, Beijing Olympics, opening ceremony, steven spielberg, zhang yimou on 10 January 2008 | 1 Comment »
Where will you be on 10th July? If you are in Beijing and you call by the National Olympic Stadium you may catch the opening ceremony of the 2008 Olympic Games. Only the rehearsal mind, the dates of which have been announced today.
The announcements do not reveal whether creative director Zhang Yimou or collaborator Steven [...]
