Entries: Environment

Monitoring Air Quality for the 2008 Olympics

Despite widespread concern that air pollution could pose major health problems for athletes competing in the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China’s government insists its pollution control policies will be effective in curbing the air quality problem--at least during the games. 

Beijing’s municipal government, along with the Olympic Committee, has put together an emergency task force that will oversee all Olympic operations from a command post of sorts that will be staffed 24-7 for the duration of the games.  The task force will include representatives from eight focus areas that will include the Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau--the organization that will be held chiefly responsible for ensuring clean air during the games.  During the games, BEPB says it will deploy a fleet of 20 vans with satellite transmitters that can send air quality measurements from the field back to the control center in downtown Beijing.  Officials could then potentially decide when it’s necessary to issue pollution controls such as shutting down factories or restricting automobile traffic.

Chinese environmental officials say that reaching the projected goal of 80% “blue sky days” during the Olympics won’t be easy, but they say the goal is well within reach. 

Beijing EPB Engineer Jingqi Liu explains different initiatives aimed at reducing the number of cars on the road

The bumper sticker for a program that encourages Beijing residents to leave their cars home at least one day a month to help reduce pollution

E-waste: The Home Front

Disposing of old State of Illinois computers is no small task.  State agencies and offices discard so much electronic equipment that there’s an agency whose job it is to deal with all the old property.  The IL Department of Central Management Services Property Control Division is housed in a warehouse in Springfield.  Walk in the door and a sea of computer monitors, Xerox machines, and printers greets you.  Most of these units will be auctioned to people who will recycle, refurbish, or re-sell them.  It’s the sellers the state is most concerned about because it’s difficult to tell if they are shipping the electronics overseas where they could be scrapped and dumped in rural areas such as Taizhou, China.  According to CMS, more than 90% of outmoded electronic equipment nationwide winds up in landfills or illegal dumps, risking toxic leaks that can pose health dangers.  Now, they say that will change, at least in Illinois. Gov. Blagojevich recently issued an Executive Order requiring State agencies, boards and commissions to safely dispose of e-scrap.

CMS says they will categorize e-scrap into two categories: 
1.) Useful working computer scrap that has value and can be sold to buyers with the hopes that they wouldn’t want to scrap a useful working system
2.) Useless non-working scrap that will not get sold and will go straight to a trusted local (state) recycler and scrapped there

This plan doesn’t eliminate the practice of overseas dumping; it just makes it less likely to happen. 

“Until we can control the export market and what’s going overseas, each state is going to have to do what it can to try to minimize the impact and do a better job of policing the environment,” said Curtis Howard, Manager of CMS State and Federal Surplus Property.

So far, only a handful of states, including Illinois have adopted or are seriously considering legislation to control e-waste and keep it in the U.S.

Today in Beijing...PLUS poll update

Sam Unger and Ted Land report from Beijing...Watch for poll results/answer. 

Poll: Fog or Pollution

This is the view we woke up to this morning when we looked out the window of our hotel room.  But is it fog or smog? 

We want to know what you think, so post your guess in the comment section below, and later today I’ll post an update with the answer.

The Fixers

Here’s to the Fixers…the hard-working locals who bend over backwards to make journalism happen in foreign areas.  We had a fantastic team of people from Taizhou #1 High School showing us where to go and what to do in order to gather the necessary elements for the e-waste story.  They booked our hotel, bargained with drivers, got us access to a scrapping facility, translated, and took several hours out of their busy work-days to make all this happen.  I wasn’t sure how successful my Taizhou excursion would be, given the logistical challenges.  Our guides made this an incredibly productive experience.  Thank you to the Fixers of Taizhou, China.