posted by Jessica Stevens
Summer is my season and I seriously look forward to the Summer Olympic Games so I can't help but feel like someone is raining on my parade. I'm sorry if this does the same for you. Vera staff was chatting about this story today and I wanted to follow up on our conversation.
Haile Gebreselassie holds the world record for the marathon yet has decided to withdraw from competing in the marathon at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games due to pollution (BBC). The pollution levels in Beijing are such that top athletes like Gebreselassie and Paula Radcliffe, both of whom suffer from asthma, must seriously reconsider their strategies as they prepare for the Summer games. However, athletes are not the only ones to suffer from the affects of pollution.
By government estimates 400,000 people die prematurely from respitory illnesses in China every year. The health care costs for premature death and disability related to air pollution is estimated up to 4% of the country's GDP (Mother Jones). Much of this has been attributed to the rapid development currently taking place in China.
China has gone to some pretty strange extremes to be good hosts for the coming games such as drastically limiting water use by farmers with mixed results (MSNBC). 33 million trees have been planted along Beijing's highways and rivers (to block dust storms) but a mountain was destroyed to provide the soil. In preparation for the games China has spent $3.6 bilion in an attempt to be green. China's environmental damage is costing it 10% of its gross domestic product, basically all of its economy's celebrated growth.
What's a tree hugging athlete to do?
To be fair here China only recently surpassed the U.S. as the leading emitter of CO2.
To read more about China's development read The Last Empire by Jacques Leslie published in the February 2008 issue of Mother Jones.
Go here to read Beijing 2008 Green Olympic Initiative