Will Beijing Be Able to Clear Smog for Olympics?

With high hopes of clearing the skies of smog and pollution before the summer Olympics begin (in just 7 weeks), Beijing is putting new bans in place on automobiles. But will it be enough?

The city is one of the most heavily polluted in the world, a fact that has some people wondering why the Olympic Committee chose Beijing for the 2008 summer games in the first place. I’ve heard that in many areas of the city, you can’t see twenty feet in front of you. The smog is literally that thick. Imagine working out at Olympic levels in air so dirty you shouldn’t be breathing it in the first place.

Beijing plans to dramatically reduce the number of automobiles on the road between now and the end of the Olympic games. Half of all government and Communist party cars will be banned from roads, drivers will be banned from roads on either odd or even days depending on license plate numbers, and heavy-polluting industrial trucks will be banned all together. I’ve also heard Beijing will be trying to manipulate the weather to help with the pollution.

There has been no immediate difference in the pollution levels since the ban was put in place on Monday. The article on CNN says…

Skies remained smoggy and traffic was bumper-to-bumper during afternoon rush hour on freeways and Chang An Avenue, which cuts through the heart of the city.

It remains to be seen whether or not Beijing can clean up the air in their city before the world’s best athletes show up to compete in it. What do you think? Will they be able to do it?