Will China continue to fight pollution or was it just for show?

Question

China shut down plants and took cars off the road and planted trees to control the smog. Was that just for show or are they serious about pollution? What will Beijing look like in two weeks?

Answer 1

It was just for show... They can't stop the pollution without hurting their economy... Thats why they are progressing so fast, is because they do not have any laws or issues about pollution or toxic materials, etc.  It will catch up with them eventually...  

Answer 2

[[if that is true then how did Beijing control it for the olympics? Gobi desert? So I guess for the games they put a blanket over the Gobi? I think it is clear to anyone who lives in a large city that smog is the result of cars and factories, power plants.]]

Your assumption is atrocious. If you don't under China's weather at least learn something. It's called wind and rain that washes off the dust from the Gobi Desert. September has the nicest weather in Beijing and disabled will be happy there in the Paralympic Games.

I think China will continue to fight pollution not just in Beijing but all to their provinces especially the dreadful Linfen--the #1 polluted city in the world.

Solving the pollution problemt:

Cars are definitely a major factor, and so are emissions from factories and coal-fired and other fossil-fuel power plants (note that large scale hydroelectric projects -a legacy of the 70s and 80s which saw the construction of the Three Gorge project- are not a sustainable solution because while their reduce direct air pollution they create other problems, but small run-of-the-river plants are virtually impact-less). Reduction at source is a good start, and so are large investments in clean air technologies that reduce significantly industrial emissions at source. Better fuel efficiency and tighter emissions for vehicles, including the use of alternative fuels such as hydrogen and electric power and hybrids, etc. Long list...In the end, most of our air pollution problems results from the burning of fossil fuels like coal, oil, natural gas, and gasoline.

Dust from desertic areas (Gobi desert China's case) is another problem that is closely related to global climate change, overgrazing, over harvesting of wood, bad land use practices, and most importantly large water withdrawals for irrigation and other industrial uses.

In China as elsewhere, shifting from traditional energy to green energy would reduce reliance on fossil fuel imports, domestic air pollution and safety risks from coal mines, and would have a direct and positive economic impact particularly on rural areas as wind energy and biomass would likely be the obvious place to start. Using green energy also reduce energy economic security risks and rapid depletion of natural resources.

All of this sounds nice, but what can we do individually? It sounds counter-intuitive and backwards in a rapidly developing country like China, but basically it boils down to consuming less, ditching the Audi dream and taking back Daddy's old Flying Pigeon, reducing, recycling, re-using...Easier said than done, I sometimes take my car to go to the gym...

I think it's not too late to overcome these problems, but actions have to be taken now. Not only on air pollution but water and land as well. It pays off to spend more now because overall you quickly cause a ten-fold reduction (my guess, I'm not an economist) in environmental and health costs, not to mention the quality of life in both urban and rural areas.

Answer 3

unfortunately I am afraid to say it is only for show for the duration of their Olympic games, as soon as the game is over once again the factories will be in full production and the smog will return. the world will start complaining about china smoke emission. the world greenhouse effect and global warming the story goes on and on..

Answer 4

I predict the smog will return as they reactivate all their factories.

Those government and foreign factories & companies absolutely love China's lax pollution laws.

Answer 5

I think that life as usual will return to China in the near future. I don't think they are that serious about pollution.  They may keep the cars off the road and just reopen factories, too.  Who knows? Time will tell.

Answer 6

yeah art of wars right, most of the pollution is caused because of the geography/.. dust comes in from as far as the gobi desert