What is Digg?101 Comments
- akilleen, on 03/14/2008, -1/+38How are athletes supposed to compete in that? Some will leave the Olympics with a medal, while others leave with lung cancer.
- Syni, on 03/14/2008, -0/+30Isn't this a tiny bit last minute?
- coit, on 03/14/2008, -1/+29God I get sick just seeing pictures of that nightmare.
- apc3161, on 03/14/2008, -0/+26Alright, here are three pictures I took in a large city called Wuhan. I remember taking these, they were from a tall building at around 1 oclock in the afternoon. This wasn't a "foggy" day. This is what it was like almost every day that I was there.
http://picasaweb.google.com/apc3161/China0607/phot ...
http://picasaweb.google.com/apc3161/China0607/phot ...
http://picasaweb.google.com/apc3161/China0607/phot ...
I was told the pollution comes from two things.
1) Back in the day, they were really trying to push the Soviet system and build up their industry. This resulted in the construction of a lot of factories in the middle of big cities. So in the United States, even though we've always emitted more pollution, we do so very spread out and usually outside of cities.
2)On every corner there is a major construction project. It really is mind boggling, all of this construction is just constantly throwing dust all around. So when you have construction on every corner you can imagine the results.
Beijing though I remember being a lot cleaner, although I was told I was there on a nice day.
http://picasaweb.google.com/apc3161/China0607/phot ...
A little bit hazy as you can tell, but the sky was still blue. If it wasn't for the fact that I couldn't access 9/10 websites that I wanted to when I was over there, I would give China a 9/10 in terms of visiting. Really interesting place, and incredible food. Find a local to give you tours (in this case it was my gf).
Oh, and you can usually haggle the price of everything down by around 50%. It was fun at first, after a while though it became annoying, because even buying a T-shirt would take 10 minutes, whereas here you can just go in, accept the price or not, and walk out. - apc3161, on 03/14/2008, -1/+24The scary thing is, that's really what its like. If you were standing on one side of the street, the other side of the street would appear a little hazy. That's how bad it was, even over such short distances. This was Winter 06-07 though so I'm not sure if it's gotten better since then. I'll upload some of my own pictures and show them.
- chrissku, on 03/14/2008, -1/+23These Olympic games are working against China. It's exposing their human and animal rights abuses. Not to mention their complete disregard for the environment. I will not watch Olympic event from China.
- inactive, on 03/14/2008, -0/+18The world's top marathoner doesn't want to compete in that cesspool. Can you blame him?
http://sport.guardian.co.uk/breakingnews/feedstory ...
Compete and die for the glory of the chicoms I guess. - bamafun, on 03/14/2008, -2/+18it makes you wonder how they were ever selected to host the olympics in the first place.
- IllBeBack, on 03/14/2008, -0/+12Maybe they should slow down a little with the coal mines already. Just a thought...
- inactive, on 03/14/2008, -0/+11Last year I read a story where Chinese hog farmers force fed the animals 40lbs of wastewater (sewage) just before sending them to market to increase their selling weight. Nice guys.
- nathanbutnet, on 03/14/2008, -1/+12Well chalk this up to wake up call 1,134,367 that we should start to do something to lessen our pollution and impact on the planet?
- IllBeBack, on 03/14/2008, -2/+13All of your links are truncated. Please be aware that when you edit your message, the "wonderful" Digg.com comment editing system truncates long URLs. You must re-paste the URLs into your comment to work around this bug that's been outstanding for many months.
- ArchangelZLT, on 03/14/2008, -0/+10Beijing (seriously) needs to do a HELL lot of things. And what they are doing is off-track.
- eamonman, on 03/14/2008, -0/+9Here's a more recent article
http://www.latimes.com/news/science/environment/la ...
When I first moved to LA in '96, I took a quick 1/2 hour jog in the midday August smog. I coughed for 3 days straight after that. Who knows what will happen to real athletes in far worse conditions. - chrissku, on 03/14/2008, -0/+9For a country that likes to boast about how quick they are growing they sure don't seem to care very much about their people. It's really sad.
- Rahodeb, on 03/14/2008, -0/+7Others just won't run:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/more_sport/ ... - Seidoger, on 03/14/2008, -0/+7$?
- typicalusername, on 03/14/2008, -0/+7These will probably be the least participated and least watched Olympics in history from people are saying. They might get a clue that way.
- Landlocked, on 03/14/2008, -0/+7Just last year Al Gore called China a pioneer in environmental practices. I guess you say that when they bankrolled your 1996 re-election campaign.
- Rahodeb, on 03/14/2008, -0/+6Yep, this is nothing less than trading the health of your people for money. They could do a lot more to fix this, but aren't, because they don't want to slow down economic development.
- CazMo, on 03/14/2008, -1/+7Makes me wonder how the ***** they beat Toronto in the bid... you can at least see blue when you're standing near the CN tower... and oh yea.. there's no tanks..
- jeexbit, on 03/14/2008, -6/+12Meanwhile, back at the ranch:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23631398/
WASHINGTON - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency agreed to weaken an important part of its new smog requirements after being told at the last minute that President Bush preferred a less stringent approach, according to government documents. - Neticule, on 03/14/2008, -0/+6They will clean up for the olympics, but not for their own citizens?
- DiggsOnlyJew, on 03/14/2008, -1/+6Well why don't you just marry China.
- paganmonkeyboy, on 03/14/2008, -0/+5Don't even watch the Olympics if China crushes hard on the protests in Tibet right now.
- ennTOXX, on 03/14/2008, -0/+5I'll tell you. I was in Beijing for 10 days, 2 years ago during a month long trip in China. compared to Western Living, it's ***** nuts there. I hit the streets as soon as I could. I walked everywhere. Like miles, not steps, miles. I'm not sure THE WHOLE WORLD UNDERSTANDS what life is like there. Within the first 72 hours I was going through what I called "ADAPTING TO MY ENVIRONMENT", sick like the flu. Dr. visit cleared me of any ailment, told me to rest & drink fluids. And this was after being in Shanghai for 7 days! Needless to say, I got better & was able to enjoy the rest of my stay, but yes, SMOG IS OUT OF CONTROL THERE... :||
- WhipkickeN, on 03/14/2008, -0/+4This is why the 2008 Olympics should have been in Toronto. Not to say we don't have our own pollution problems, but i have never seen the air look anywhere close to what I've seen in those Beijing pictures. That is just disgusting.
- inactive, on 03/14/2008, -0/+4Boycot the Olympics
- ZiggityZhang, on 03/14/2008, -0/+3Try actually being there. Your lungs don't notice it as much as your eyes will. I'd look up at gray everywhere and locals would say, "Oh this is a GOOD day"
- baddriver, on 03/14/2008, -3/+6everyone saying they won't watch these Olympics, I call baloney. You'll be watching just like me to see the athletes compete in these circumstances. For the same reason we watch most extreme elimination challenge, American gladiators, and car accidents.
- doublebummer, on 03/14/2008, -0/+3Probably caused by burning cars: http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/03/14/world/ ...
- codyman, on 03/14/2008, -2/+5Sad fact of it all is that 1/6th the world's population lives in a country that is polluted + corrupt + has pretty much no freedom etc etc.
People say that we "aren't free anymore in America" but China makes me feel pretty damn free... - Seidoger, on 03/14/2008, -0/+3The funny this is that, if they succeed, they'll just revert to how to is now when the Olympics are all done.
- 3tcp, on 03/14/2008, -0/+3Since the west is nowhere near this problem (geographically) we're incapable of stopping this. Since the west is nowhere near this level of severity, $1 billion invested in pollution reduction here would do far less than the same amount invested in China. China is unwilling to take these steps because they're bent on having the rest of the world perceive them as just as wealthy and powerful as anyone else, the health of their own people doesn't matter to them.
- 3tcp, on 03/14/2008, -0/+3The life expectancy of a Chinese person won't really be affected by the poor conditions of the last 10 year for a while. It's also important to remember that those numbers are the average of all 1+ billion Chinese and enough of them live out in the country growing and harvesting crops by hand that they will help balance out all the people living in the polluted industrial centers on the coast.
- Timdegreat, on 03/14/2008, -1/+3It's the human rights abuses that should be far more of a concern than animal rights abuses.
- brokencode, on 03/14/2008, -1/+3Guess where all that pollution eventually goes to?
The United States. - 3tcp, on 03/14/2008, -0/+2Athletics in these conditions are more like 'fear factor' than 'american gladiators'
- morningmatters, on 03/14/2008, -2/+4According to CIA worldbook, the average life expectancy of a Chinese and US citizen is 73 years and 78 years, respectively. Now some 50% of all Chinese smoke, the environment there is terrible, and personal hygienes are not up to the levels of the West. It does make you wonder why do the Chinese live longer than citizens of your average developing nation.
- sporg, on 03/14/2008, -0/+2If they can invent a way to make industrial smoke stacks emit clouds of blue smoke they might get more blue sky days.
They could also try brainwashing everyone into believing the sky is blue. - inactive, on 03/14/2008, -5/+7Desperation, willingness to pay every price. These are very ruthless people, but we already knew that.
- fsjenkins2000, on 03/14/2008, -0/+2I cant wait to see what the Marathon runners will be coughing up after that race. 26 miles = Death by SMOG
- xadhominemx, on 03/14/2008, -0/+2Even if I accept your statement (which I do with a grain of salt- sure, the US may release more pollution per capita, but it is substantially less harmful due to greater emissions restrictions on mercury compounds, lead, SO2, etc.), the industrialized areas in China still have way higher levels of pollution than their American counterparts.
- Hangly, on 03/14/2008, -0/+2That is not smog in those pictures it is DUST. Every spring and fall the wind from the West picks up and dumps dust from the Gobi desert all over the city. Sometimes an inch thick. It gets in everything and it makes mud in your lungs and would be a bitch to run in, but it's not exactly the fault of the Chinese. (Maybe it's their fault for building a city there.)
Not defending the CCP, just combating ignorance. - Rizzob23, on 03/14/2008, -0/+2The PRC will sweep the smog under the rug in time for the Olympics, only to surreptitiously unleash it on the population again once the games are over.
- 1verse, on 03/14/2008, -0/+2Yes, it is that bad and sometimes even worse. If the sun were up right now it would greet me to an ugly black and gray Saturday morning. My eyes burn all the time and everyone here snorts and grunts to clear their throats and everyone spits including the women There is an article in a local magazine that said that if any expat lived here for 2 + years you are taking approximately twice the amount of years off your life expectancy. The diesel fumes invade my apartment as it sits off the 3rd ring road and penetrates my clothing. Don't get me wrong there have been some wonderful days, especially after a rainstorm or windy day but I can't wait to get out of here and go back to sunny Northern California.
- CedEx, on 03/14/2008, -1/+3So just because we're no where near this problem we should ignore it till it becomes a problem?
Ever hear that saying about prevention is easier than a cure? We can already see evidence of this happening in western cities. - BossKey, on 03/14/2008, -0/+2I keep thinking of the 1936 Olympics..."why them, why now?"
- ShrimpCrackers, on 03/14/2008, -0/+2Um too late. Reports are coming in of another massacre...
This is like what? 12 since Tiananmen Square that have leaked? Improving Human Rights my ass. - kazamx, on 03/14/2008, -0/+1Well at least the US has an excuse when they get beat in the medal tables.
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