The past weeks have been wonderful in Beijing. Not just because of the Olympics but because of the weather...
Living here for almost two years now I have never seen a weather like this before - almost every day a clear sky that is almost blue. The visibility some days was over 40 km - you could see the mountains with the Great Wall in the north being high up on a building. This August was the best month of air quality Beijing seen in many years - 14 days with "excellent" air quality and 16 "fairly good". The previous record set in 1998 was just 9 days with "excellent" air quality. Last August just had 2 days.
Living here for almost two years now I have never seen a weather like this before - almost every day a clear sky that is almost blue. The visibility some days was over 40 km - you could see the mountains with the Great Wall in the north being high up on a building. This August was the best month of air quality Beijing seen in many years - 14 days with "excellent" air quality and 16 "fairly good". The previous record set in 1998 was just 9 days with "excellent" air quality. Last August just had 2 days.
So, all actions take for the Olympics payed off in the end. Abandon all trucks that are heavy polluters, odd-even driving for private cars, stop all construction sites and stop all pollution from factories in and around Beijing (closed down permanent or during Olympics).
The big question is now - how will it be now when the Olympics and after that the ParaOlympics is over. Will Beijing go back to what it was before - one of the most polluted cities in the word...
We can just cross our fingers and hope not!
