With China’s energy production closely tied to the global economy, it should come as no surprise that Beijing’s skies have cleared up recently as a result of the downturn:
In the second half of last year, a period that included the Olympics in August, Beijing recorded its lowest air pollution readings since 2000, according to data from the Ministry of Environmental Protection.
The average monthly air pollution index was 74, about 25 percent lower than the previous seven years.
Surely, Beijing would have preferred to have the changes not come at the cost of millions of jobs, however where I hope this story does not end is that Beijing takes this time to correct the industrial complex and its need to pollute.
Investing in technologies that will reduce air pollution at power production and manufacturing site, driving standards targeted at imprving fuel efficiency, and investing in sustainable urban planning will all help to ensure that as the global economy recovers we do not see the same problems rear the heads back up.
Aside from this, it sure would be interesting to see if any similiar improvement in water qualities may have resulted from the reduced manufacturing activity.
Interesting… See this article too for some interesting views: http://www.mindreign.com/en/mindshare/Environmental-Concerns/China-3a-The-Environmental-Rogue/sl36962308bp325cpp10pn1.html