China Prepares for Olympics

Air quality is Topic A for Beijing residents. And the folks hosting the Olympics have been planning and fretting about this for a long time. The strategy is to take half the cars or more off the road, and shut down polluting steel/cement factories in and around the city. The verdict is still out on how well this will work.

But keep this in mind: We all contribute in a way to the air pollution that many reflexively consider "China's problem." These factories produce stuff that you and I buy. Those Chinese plants smelt iron ore and coal to make the steel that encases your music player or laptop; plus the steel shipping container your electronic toy was shipped in; plus the steel that went into the vessel; plus the steel that made the gantry crane at the port of Long Beach or Norfolk or Tacoma that received the container. Get the idea?