China Keeping Some Green Measures Put in Place for Olympics

Well, will wonders never cease? China is actually keeping some of the green measures the country put in place for the 2008 Olympic Games. Many people didn’t have much faith in China’s supposed dedication to cleaning up pollution, and what they’ve done so far is certainly only a drop in the bucket.  But, it’s good to hear that they’re at least keeping a few of the small measures they put in place for the Olympics.

From Newsweek:

In the past, leaders hesitated to place permanent limits on private-car traffic because the increasingly assertive middle class squawked at such constraints. But the Games have helped shift attitudes, and now the city is unveiling new rules for a six-month trial, inspired by—though not as drastic as—the cutbacks that took 2 million vehicles off roads for two months during the Olympics and Paralympics. Under the new regulations, a third of government cars have been mothballed. As of Oct. 11, a fifth of official and private vehicles are barred from driving on weekdays. Municipal authorities will also begin phasing out hundreds of thousands of vehicles that exceed emission standards by Oct. 2009, a year ahead of schedule.

And soon the government is slated to unveil 1,000 clean-energy public-transport vehicles in 10 Chinese cities. Beijing introduced 23 fuel-cell cars, 470 electric vehicles and 102 hybrids during the Games, and drivers loved them. Wan says local officials and citizens are warming to the green vehicles, too. “The Olympics has been a time for demonstrating new kinds of high technology,” he says. “It’ll be

just like people who have an old TV at home—they’ll change it when they see a new LCD screen.”

Is it enough, considering China’s rampant use of fossil fuels and frantic construction of coal-fired power plants? Maybe not, especially considering the fact that as soon as the Olympics traffic restrictions were lifted, Beijing’s pollution index quadrupled.  There’s also the fact that hundreds of factories continue to spew pollution into the air.

But it is a step forward, and if China’s citizens are beginning to see the green light, perhaps they’ll continue to demand projects and policies that are healthy for them, their country and the world at large.

Link [Newsweek]
Photo credit: Flickr user Addictive Picasso

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