The September 13, 2006 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine has a very interesting and unsettling paper on the deleterious coronary health effects associated with physical exertion in polluted environments (I learned about the paper from an AP story which includes helpful analysis from outside experts). Specifically, the paper studies the health effects…
All posts in Olympics
Traffic and Weather, Beijing-style
Over the weekend, and into Monday, Beijing pulled roughly one million cars per day from its roads in a test of pollution (and traffic) control strategies in advance of the Olympics. According to the Beijing Environment Protection Monitoring Center, Beijing’s air quality received scores of 91, 93, 95, and 95 over the last four days…
Worker’s Holiday, Summer of 2008?
Finally, it seems, the various international and national Olympic committees are beginning to take notice of Beijing’s significant pollution and its likely impact upon the athletes. As James Fallows of the Atlantic has been pointing out in his blog, interested observers have long assumed that the Chinese government has “a last-minute, draconian plan” to deal…
Olympic Expectations
In early January 2002, I spent a single night in Salt Lake City, Utah. The Olympics were a few weeks away, and the city streets were hung with Olympic banners. I was expecting more – a senses of anticipation, I suppose. But the banners were just about the extent of it. At least from my…