Beijing Olympics 2008: Winning Press Freedom - World Press ...

Beijing Olympics 2008: Winning Press Freedom
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2000, there was a growth of 750 square kilometers, while in 2010, development should
reach 900 kilometers.
Since the policy of economic reform and openness, development has been presented as a
positive principle and underdevelopment as the greatest evil. And so the drawbacks of
Beijing’s uncontrolled growth were ignored.
If one goes to the Google Earth site on the Internet, one can see on the satellite photos of
Beijing that the city is covered with an enormous cloud. It is what is commonly known as
the urban climate effect or the effect of urban heat pockets. The clearest sign of such heat
pockets is that downtown temperatures are higher than suburban ones, with differences
of as much as 6 degrees Centigrade. Buildings are concentrated, and the unbuilt surfaces
are made up mostly of tarred and cemented streets. At night, cities release accumulated
heat more slowly than suburbs. According to German research, urban heat pockets result
in 5 to 15 per cent less sunshine, temperatures can rise as much as 10 degrees
Centigrade, the number of foggy days rises by 30 to 100 per cent, etc.
Urban fog covers are formed, made up of water vapor and particles. Those fog covers
impede the exchange of air between the cities and their surroundings. Motor vehicles,
industrial production and human activity produce great quantities of gasses, cinders and
dust. When they reach the fog covers, they can no longer dissipate, and they stagnate in
the polluted air. So in Beijing the sky is dark and the sun is unclear.
Of course, there are city planning measures that could counteract or even avert such
effects. Beijing’s growth has taken place chaotically and in concentric rings. If the Chinese
government does not deal with Beijing’s uncontrolled growth, it will not be able to counter
the emergence of urban heat pockets, and improvement of the capital’s air quality will
become an impossible goal.
Can the effects of urban heat pockets be countered during the Olympics? If the weather is
favorable, there will be heavy rains that would dissipate Biejing’s fog cover before the
Games. That would renew air circulation; noxious gasses and particles would diminish; the
air would clear; and the sky would brighten. If rains continue at regular intervals during
the Games, they would prevent urban heat pockets from reforming. But the government
does not want abundant rain before or during the Games. It has planned on system of
radars, cannons and planes to try to disperse rain clouds. Rains would be seen as bad
omens. Yet, if there is no rain, heat accumulations would become critical and could
prevent improvements in air quality. It could even produce unexpected consequences.
Beijing’s water supply crisis
In addition to Beijing’s air quality problem, there is its water supply problem. The Chinese
government has urgently brought in 1.6 billion cubic meters of water from provinces like
Hebei that are even more arid than Beijing. The basic cause of Beijing’s drought is the
uncontrolled exploitation of its water supply. If it continues unchecked, the need to move
the capital city could become inevitable. All the investments for the 2008 Olympic Games
would then have gone to waste.