From the Chicago Tribune [link – registration required]:
In a classroom at one of China’s top universities, an elite group of young researchers huddle over an urgent question: Can Beijing clean up its filthy air in time for the 2008 Olympics? For China, it is nothing short of a Manhattan Project on air quality. Their semisecret mission, funded by the government, is daunting: Find out what can be done in barely two years to help one of the world’s most polluted cities pass international muster.
For these 15 young men and women–some of Qinghua University‘s best and brightest–the project means balancing the pressures of patriotism and science, a fitting reflection of China’s battle to sustain breakneck economic growth and curb a growing environmental crisis.… “Recently, we tried to collect some experience from other Olympic cities, but we realized none of them have faced as difficult and complex issues as Beijing,” said He Kebing, a Qinghua professor of environmental science and engineering.
See also: Photos of Beijing’s pollution via Flickr [link] and Jonathan Watts’ report for the Guardian UK last year on satellite images that showed Beijing as the “air pollution capital of the world.”
Technorati Tags: 2008 Olympics, air pollution, Beijing, China
