May Chan, SCMP – Jul 31, 2008 Taxi, minibus and bus drivers have demanded that the government shelve plans for a law next year banning idling engines, citing the risk of heatstroke in summer. Representatives from the Motor Transport Workers General Union said yesterday temperatures inside the vehicles could top 40 degrees Celsius within minutes [...]
Posts from ‘July, 2008’
Nation Must Embrace Green Games Message
Updated on Jul 31, 2008 – SCMP I am sure China will shine when it takes to the world stage with next month’s Olympic Games. However, while China is flying high, we should not forget that 25 per cent of people on the mainland drink unhygienic water, one third of people living in cities breathe [...]
Wind And Storms Give Beijing Breathing Space
War against smog being won, insists top official Peter Simpson in Beijing – SCMP – Updated on Jul 30, 2008 Clear skies, high visibility and a fresh breeze offered beleaguered Olympic organisers breathing space to declare some good news yesterday: the war on smog is being won. “The air is better by 20 per cent,” [...]
Japan’s Athletes May Wear Masks
Reuters – Updated on Jul 30, 2008 Japanese athletes may wear masks made for construction workers to cope with air pollution during the Beijing Olympics, a doctor affiliated with the Japanese Olympic Committee has said. An increasing number of international athletes are considering wearing face masks for the Games despite official promises of clearer skies [...]
Paris Divided Over Latest ‘Green Dream’
A mayor’s vision: first bikes, next electric cars Associated Press in Paris – Updated on Jul 30, 2008 Paris’ ambitious mayor has a new “green dream” after the spectacular success of his bike-sharing scheme launched a year ago: a version for electric cars. Under Bertrand Delanoe’s environmentally friendly plan, a driver could pick up a [...]
No Amount Of Smog Can Cloud Eyes Of The World
Tom Plate – SCMP – Updated on Jul 30, 2008 In reality, the Beijing Olympics, which opens next Friday, creates three different categories of events. It’s important to understand this. The first event is the one that observers on the ground in China will see, the second is the event the rest of the world [...]
This Is Our Fault
Updated on Jul 30, 2008 – SCMP Isn’t this amazing? A spokesman for the Environmental Protection Department (EPD) (“Ocean winds credited with clearing skies”, July 25) said fine weather and “the measures implemented over the past years have also contributed to better air quality”. It appeared that as of this Monday, these so-called measures had [...]
Dirty Air And The Beijing Olympics
Published: July 30 2008 19:09 | Last updated: July 30 2008 19:09 – Financial Times The arrival of dense smog in both Beijing and Hong Kong in recent days has delivered a salutary fright to the organisers of the Olympics less than two weeks before the opening of the games on August 8. Officials in [...]
Calm Whitfield Breathing Easier Than Most
Doug Smith – The Star – July 30, 2008 Pictures from Beijing paint a bleak picture of lung-clogging pollution and a grey haze engulfing what will be the centre of the sports universe when the Olympics begin next week. They are splattered over the front pages of newspapers as a reminder of the horrific conditions [...]
Sports Games Clean-Up Targets
Air Pollution Health Risks Panel Proposes Sports Games Clean-Up Targets in 2009 and 2010 AMCHAM – 29th July 2007 Annual deaths attributable to air pollution are estimated at 10,000 in Hong Kong, Macau and the Pearl River Delta while air pollution is also responsible for 440,000 annual hospital bed-days and 11 million annual outpatient visits [...]