China Considering Cutting Private Car Traffic By 90% As Anti-Pollution Moves Fail To Move The Needle

[hatrack]

Beijing is considering banning 90 percent of private cars from its roads and closing more factories in a last-ditch bid to clear smoggy skies for the Olympics, state media reported Monday. With just 11 days to go before the start of the world's biggest multi-sports event, Beijing was blanketed in a dense white haze on Monday that cut visibility in the city of 17 million down to just a few hundred metres (yards).

Last week Beijing ordered more than a million cars from the roads and closed dozens of polluting factories but the effort has failed to remove the stubborn layer of unhealthy haze. Acknowledging the failure of the initial car ban introduced on July 20, Beijing authorities are expected to announce more stringent emergency measures soon, the China Daily quoted the Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau as saying. One plan under consideration was to ban 90 percent of all private vehicles from the streets of the capital during the Games, the paper said.

The Beijing Olympic organising committee was unable to confirm the report. "We are checking with relevant government departments," said spokeswoman Zhu Jing. However, the China Daily quoted Li Xin, an official with the environmental bureau, as saying the plan would go into effect before the Games start.

"We will implement an emergency plan 48 hours in advance (of the Games) if the air quality deteriorates," he was quoted as saying.

EDIT

http://www.citizen.co.za/index/Article.aspx?pDesc=1,1,22&Type=spo&File=080728033215.0weas0t0.xml

[thecrow]

1. They should have started last year..

[AndyA]

2. Of course, were it not for the Olympics the pollution would be just fine.

So nice that they address it with the Olympics in town, but ignore it the rest of the time.

China is a disgrace when it comes to protecting the planet and preserving our natural resources.

I read a horror story about old computers that get "recycled" in China. The workers are exposed to many toxic substances, with no protection for themselves or the environment. :(

[Doctor Cynic]

8. Maybe you should stop buying all their stuff if that's the case.

[AndyA]

9. I try not to buy anything from China whenever possible.

It's hard to do, but they don't make much from me.

I DO NOT shop at Wal-Mart. Ever. I will pay more to buy a made in America item.

And I drive American cars, because the corporations are located here in America, and ultimately that's where the profits wind up.

China is also largely responsible for higher gas prices in America.

There are just so many reasons to not support China...

[phantom power]

3. I get the impression they didn't see this coming.

I wonder if it's just because they've become habituated to bad air quality, or something else.

[hatrack]

4. I get the impression they didn't see this coming because they didn't want to see it coming . . .

Not a pattern of behavior unique to China, I might add.

[phantom power]

5. I assume the Olympic committee in charge of location didn't think of it either.

Or, didn't want to think of it. Too bad the athletes are going to pay the price.

[CottonBear]

6. Why didn't the IOC consider the massive pollution problems BEFORE choosing China? n/t

[hatrack]

7. 'Cuz they just KNEW that The Free Market would solve all the problems, or technology, or government

Or something like that.

And besides, it's not really about anything other than the dollars, so it's not as if the IOC really gave a damn in the first place.

[happyslug]

10. I doubt they do it.

My point is the first people to embrace the Car in the US were those with connections or Money (And generally both, for one leads to the other). This is the same group who are driving cars today in China. Is the Chinese government willing to force these people, with their wealth and connections, to go back to bicycles? I doubt it. These are NOT the people who did the long walk, that were their grandfathers or great grandfathers. People can keep a tradition alive through their children's life time, but as their grandchildren come of age, the sacrifices of the Grandparents and Great Grandparents are forgotten. What these 3rd and 4th generations remember is the rights their have enjoyed do to the political connections of their ancestors NOT why these Ancestors did what they did.

You go into any hereditary system, and it is the cousins who fight over what they grandfather won, not the children on the founder of a dynasty but his grandchildren. The same with China today. We are looking at those people who ancestors did the long march, but they themselves enjoyed the privileges of being the spoiled grandchildren of those Comrades.

The former Soviet Union had the same problem, Lenin took over Russia in 1917, Stalin did his purges in the late 1930s. The survivors of those purges lived till Gorbachev took over, for he was the first ruler of the Soviet Union who had NOT served in WWII and thus never under the threat of Stalin. His fellow communists of his time period were the grandchildren and great grandchildren of the survivors of the purges, not the children. The children of the purges supported the party leadership till the last survivor of the purges was dead, then tried to rule themselves, but could not. The problem was the Children and Grandchildren of the Survivors of the purges did NOT want to live as if Stalin was still alive, they did NOT want to live in a society where they were expected to sacrifice for the ultimate revolution. Instead these groups withdrew their support for the Communists and the party Collapsed. Gorbachev, as a child of a Survivor of the purges tried to save the system but could not. Another child of a survivor of the purges, Yeltsin, took over, but his way was a rejection of the past and it history of sacrifice for the revolution.

The same with China, the generation that came to power with Mao in the late 1940s is dieing out, their children and grandchildren are the leaders of China now and mostly their Grandchildren). Are these Children, Grandchildren and Great Grandchildren willing to give up their privilege of driving a car? Remember the Soviet Union Under Gorbachev, the answer was NO, these sons and daughters of privilege want they "rights" which comes from their position they hold do to the fact who their ancestors were (and what they did). I do not see them voluntary agreeing to give of THEIR CARS, they would agree that others should give up cars, but NOT them. Thus I do NOT see the ruling class making the sacrifice required, for it requires THEM to give up on a right they have long become accustomed to, and a right they will not give up just for Political gain.