His eyes opened for a second and closed again. Still in bed, Wo Niu reached
out for the tiny alarm clock on the desk. He squinted at its round surface. The
black short hand pointed at seven. It WAS time to get up! But how come it looked
so dark outside?
Wo Niu dressed up and approached the window. He smelled a
strong scent of mud and got some idea: the dust storm must have hit again.
Still, Wo Niu was shocked when he went out of the building and saw the ground
covered by a solid layer of yellow sand. And the cars parking around, of varied
colors before, now all looked the same, just like scattered mounds of
loess.
It was on the morning of April 16, 2006. The Beijing Meteorological
Station later said the dust storm, the 8th for this year, was the worst in
recent years. An estimated 336,000 tons of dust and sand had fallen on the city
proper overnight.
Frustrated, people questioned the "intensified"
environmental protection efforts reportedly made by the government in recent
years. Some voiced worry that the scenario of a Green Olympics in 2008 might not
materialize.
Addressing the public concerns, experts with the State Forestry
Administration (SFA) said climate conditions varied from year to year. The dust
storm did not necessarily indicate the environment was getting worse.
Afforestation efforts had been fruitful. And historical records showed dust
storm was not likely to occur in Beijing in August and September.
"The 2008
Green Olympics will not be affected by the dust storm, " said Liu Tuo, director
of SFA's Desertification Control Office.
In Moscow on July 13, 2001 Beijing
was awarded by the IOC the right to host the 29th Summer Olympic Games. In its
bid China pledged to stage a "green" event that will contribute to the
protection of the environment. The task is formidable, but Beijing looks
determined to live up to its words.
Returning from Moscow, officials in
Beijing immediately reviewed the city development and environmental protection
planning. They vowed to attain the city's environmental improvement goals --
previously set for the year 2010 -- three years ahead of schedule. The city was
to conduct the giant project in line with the concept of sustainable
development, through protecting the environment and resources, and maintaining
the ecological balance, said a document prepared by the Beijing Organizing
Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG).
According to BOCOG,
much progress has been made in the past few years and some of the "green goals"
have already been achieved.
In 2005 Beijing spent a total of 17.9 billion RMB yuan (US$2.2 billion) on
the environment. Relocation work commenced for the city's two major polluters,
the Capital Iron & Steel Group and the Chemical Industry Area in the
southeastern suburbs.
By the end of 2005, all 20-ton furnaces and those of
smaller sizes in the urban areas were made to use clean fuels. And larger
furnaces were required to employ pollution treatment facilities to meet the
emission standards.
Meanwhile, the city imposed the stage-3 National Emission
Standards on motor vehicles. Automobiles meeting the new standards, which are
compatible with the Euro-3 Emission Standards, generate 50% less emission than
vehicles conforming to the stage-2 standards.
Thanks to sustained and
effective afforestation efforts, Beijing's forest coverage reached 50.5% and
urban green land coverage also climbed to 42.5%.
Last year Beijing had 234
days that reported good air quality, measured by the grade-2 national norm, five
days more than in 2004.
Improvement of the environment was also seen in the
rise of sewage treatment rate from 2% in 1990 to the present 70% in urban areas,
and from 30% in 2004 to the present 40% in rural areas. And the safe treatment
rate of domestic wastes reached 94% in the eight urban districts and 40% in the
suburbs.
Beijing needs to construct 12 new sports facilities for the Olympic
Games. In order to engage the "green concept" and minimize the negative impact
of the event on the environment, BOCOG has worked out a number of guidelines for
the design and construction of the new venues.
"The green standards stated in
the guidelines are stricter in general than the existing national standards,"
BOCOG Venue Planning and Environment Department Executive Director Yu Xiaoxuan
said.
Many new constructions or renovations relating to the Games have
adopted "green technologies" or highlighted a thrifty use of resources. A total
of 100,000 square meters of ETFE (ethylene-tetra-fluoro-ethylene) foils would be
pasted on the exterior of the walls and roof of the National Aquatics Center,
dubbed the "Water Cube". The structure is expected to help save half of the
energy for lighting during the day, experts said.
A centralized AC system to
be installed in the Wukesong Indoor Stadium would economize energy consumption
by cooling according to the actual needs. Solar energy would be used to power
air conditioning on the baseball ground and also for lighting in other parts of
the Stadium. And an optical fiber lighting system would transmit the daylight to
the underground parking area.
Buried underneath the National Indoor Stadium were 8,000 tons of waste steel
scraps supplied by the Capital Iron & Steel Group.
The heavy material
served the float-combating purpose well and the utilization solved the problem
of proper disposal.
In the Olympic Village, another 3,000 tons of steel
scraps were sed to construct the roadbed. Manhole covers made of cement glass
fiber composite materials were used in the Village to replace traditional ones
made of cast iron, to save the non-renewable iron resources. And solar energy
was exploited to supply hot water for construction workers and also for lighting
on the construction sites and in the offices.
The development of subway and
light rail transport has
quickened in Beijing not only for speedy traffic,
but also for the reduction of car-related pollution.
At present construction
is underway for subway lines No.4, 5 and 10, as well as two special lines
connecting the airport and the "Olympic Green", the official name for the
Olympic park. Their combined mileage reached 115 kilometers.
By 2008 Beijing
would have 202 kilometers of subway in
operation, hopefully carrying 10% of
the city traffic.
Apart from implementing strict emission standards, Beijing
plans to make 90 percent of its public transport vehicles and 70 ercent of
local taxis adopt clean energies by the end of 2007.
Regarding the 4,000-plus
vehicles to be recruited by the Games or dedicated use, BOCOG said they were
expected to give zero or little emission, with the help of hybrid or fuel cell
technologies.
BOCOG released the Green Olympics logo on September 24, 2005.
Five days later, its Environmental Management System passed ISO auditing and
certification.
In 2005 the "Green Olympics, Green Action" Promotion Team
delivered more than 180 lectures in 15 districts and counties across
Beijing. The audience exceeded 70,000 in number.
Green-Olympics-themed
contests involving paintings by children and DV shootings by college students
became popular events among the local residents. Some of the works even
impressed the IOC officials.
Pal Schmitt, chairman of IOC's Sport and
Environment Commission,was quoted as saying that Beijing will be able to achieve
its goals for "Green Olympics."
BOCOG signed a memorandum of understanding
with the United
Nations Environment Program on November 18, 2005. The two
sides agreed to effectively cooperate in the gathering and sharing of
environmental information, and promotion and education of environmental
protection.
All the green efforts are intended to bring about a successful
Olympic Games, through which the Chinese hope to showcase their wisdom, culture
and technological development.
However, "the Green Olympics is not the end of
a story, but
just the beginning," BOCOG's Yu Xiaoxuan said. "The effects
would be lasting and leave a precious legacy of environmental protection to
China and the world."
There is still much work to do. Before 2008, Beijing
needs to construct a second natural gas pipeline, and further lift its green
land coverage to 48 percent, sewage treatment rate to over 90 percent, and
use-of-recycled-water rate to 50 percent.
To BOCOG, the Green Olympics is
getting closer every day.
Included in its list of future work are the
Olympic torch relays, and the Game's opening and closing
ceremonies.
"The arrangements will make sure that these events are not
going to cause damage to the natural habitats for animals, to reas for water
conservation, and to protected cultural heritage sites such as the Great Wall,"
Yu Xiaoxuan said.
All venue construction will be completed around the end of
2007,to be followed by decorations. BOCOG would make efforts to secure that the
materials used for decoration are also "green", and the job is done with
quality, Yu said.
An air quality security program is being developed by the
city government. During the Olympic Games, Beijing will restrict the use of
motor vehicles and stop all construction work. The neighboring areas of the
capital city will be invited to "take coordinated action" to reduce discharge of
pollutants and improve waste disposal.
"The greatest difficulty for BOCOG is
the lack of experience," Yu Xiaoxuan said, "foreign successes may not readily be
copied. We need to learn first, and then bring our own innovative thinking into
play. We must be successful, otherwise we cannot face the people who have
entrusted this important mission to us."
On October 28, 2005, a sub-station
was set up in the Olympic Green to monitor the air quality. When the Games take
place in less than two years, experts say, the environment would definitely be
better, not only because August in Beijing is typically rainy, damp and free of
strong winds, but also the "green efforts" will certainly pay off by that
time.
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