[Roguegal]

Has anybody been watching the Olympics this year? Have you noticed the pollution in the air? The other day one of the commentaries was it was actually a clear day for a change. And I thought New York and LA were polluted. They are clear compared to China!

[tater03]

I have seen some of the pictures on TV and it is hard to believe that some of the athletes can breath in this let alone run races and such things.

[Roguegal]

I watched the woman's 26 mile marathon yesterday. One of the scenes the camera pulled back for an aerial view and you could hardly see anything because of the smog. I felt so sorry for those ladies running.

[tater03]

I missed that race but there was a special on the other night where they were talking about the pollution in China and that they had put some things into place to reduce the pollution while the Olympics are going on but I am not sure what it was.

[EviesEarth]

Yes, I had heard that factories were being shut down temporarily to reduce pollution. It does look pretty bad when they show pictures.

[Lyndsey]

I would like to think that those scenes being made public might induce some changes in China. After all, they recently banned certain kinds of plastic bags, so there's hope.

[Roguegal]

I doubt they will keep this up after the Olympics is over. That includes the pan-Olympics as well, which they are also hosting. I know that they're using hydrogen powered vehicles during the marathons that they have had so that it will not add to the pollution. That should give you an idea of how bad the pollution really is.

[mollyL]

I was watching a program awhile back and it was talking about the level of pollution in some South American cities; I believe it was talking about Rio. I hope the Olympics is a bit of wake-up call for the countries and cities that haven't done that much about pollution. There were several financial reasons as to why Beijing was picked as an Olympic city; I don't know if cities in more developing countries will be considered for the Olympics if their pollution is out of hand.

[Roguegal]

It was definitely financial, but it was also political. Hopefully, it will influence other countries to start reducing their pollution. The question is now, will China keep up with their program of reducing pollution.

[atula]

China has definitely taken the first step to curb pollution at a large scale and I do hope that the rules like particular vehicles on the road on particular days stays that way to help check the emission level...