Earth System Science: And the pollution today…
From the Earth System Science Partnership conference - see blog page here.
When my plane touched down in Beijing at 6:30am there was the most impressively depressing sunrise that I’ve ever seen: blood red pooling over a dark city, with dark high-rises poking up like tombstones in the gloom.
I’d expected Beijing to be dirty, this being one of the most polluted cities in the world. But surprisingly, come 10am a swift wind blew away the smog and the clouds and things were surprisingly clear.
Everyone here talks about the weather, and the pollution. And you get two sides of a story.
Most of the guests in the hotel are rubbing their eyes in complaint saying: “I was here two years ago and you really notice the difference. It’s much more polluted now.” But those who live here maintain that, this week at least, things are surprisingly and unseasonably clear and sunny.
Perhaps, they add, that’s just because Beijing last week played host to an African summit (this was a big deal – there are literally thousands of signs of welcome plastered around the airport and throughout the city for the delegates, including giant helium balloons, billboards and road-side banners). There were certainly traffic bans in place for the duration, and maybe some factories shut down too, some suppose, in order to leave the VIP guests favourably impressed by the weather. Or then again maybe it’s just the wind.
The Chinese Meteorological Association is playing host to this event, so hopefully I’ll get to find out…
PS – things can be odd here. There is a button on my bedside table, next to the ones saying ‘light’ and ‘tv’, that simply says ‘do not’ – I will wait for the last day until I push it.
Comments
It's true! Traffic was put on hold and the pollution did clear up during this conference - a scientific study confirms it.
Posted by: nicola jones | May 3, 2007 05:07 PM