Building Ban for Olympics

All building sites in Beijing will be shut three weeks before the start of the Olympic Games, as the city tries to clear its skies of pollution.

Digging, pouring of concrete and outdoor spray-painting will also be banned under plans announced by the Environmental Protection Bureau.

The move follows mounting concern that athletes may suffer from Beijing's noxious atmosphere.
Olympic chiefs have already voiced concern over the issue.

President of the International Olympic Committee Jacques Rogge had previously warned that he would postpone certain endurance events if pollution levels were excessive.

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Pollution in China has become a very serious problem, and now experts believe it will have an effect on the olympic athletes if the pollution continues to increase. Beijing promised to have a clean enviornment for the olympics but now the pollution has become so bad that it is hard to see from block to block. So China is stopping all building sites three weeks before the Olympics in order to try to fix the problem.

China 'now top carbon polluter'

The research suggests the country's greenhouse gas emissions have been underestimated, and probably passed those of the US in 2006-2007.

The University of California team will report their work in the Journal of Environment Economics and Management.

They warn that unchecked future growth will dwarf any emissions cuts made by rich nations under the Kyoto Protocol.

The team admit there is some uncertainty over the date when China may have become the biggest emitter of CO2, as their analysis is based on 2004 data.

Until now it has been generally believed that the US remains "Polluter Number One".

Next month's University of California report warns that unless China radically changes its energy policies, its increases in greenhouse gases will be several times larger than the cuts in emissions being made by rich nations under the Kyoto Protocol.

The researchers say their figures are based on provincial-level data from the Chinese Environmental Protection Agency.

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This is very significant to china because china has now become #1 in polution in the world... because of china's rapid growth this has happen with lack of resrictions and reaction from the world until now. i hope china can figure it out.

Pollution turns Chinese river red

At least three tributaries of the Han river - a branch of the Yangtze - have been affected.

State media reported high levels of chemicals in the water.

China is increasingly concerned about its environment. A recent ban on plastic bags has led to the country's largest bag factory shutting down.

The Xinglong, Tianguan and Dongjing rivers were all affected by the pollution, according to the state news agency Xinhua.

A chemical spill is thought be the cause, but the source has not yet been identified and an investigation has been launched.

Gao Qijin, a water company official in Xinguo, Jianli County, told Xinhua that the water in the Dongjing river had become red with large amounts of bubbles.

Mr Gao said the company had detected the pollution on Sunday and immediately stopped drawing water from the river.

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This is significant to China because it gives a graphic example of China's polution is effecting the enviroment, and if this polution spreads to the Yangtze around 500 Millons peoples water supply will be tainted and unuseable to those people, this is a big deal in china and i plan on fallowing up if something big happens

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China Pollution

China to log its worst polluters

Beijing hopes the survey will give a clear picture of pollution in China. China has begun an ambitious project to survey the country's major sources of pollution.

Factories, farms and other polluters will have to declare how much, and what kind of pollutants, they discharge.

The government admits it will be difficult to get companies to supply accurate data, so it is offering them immunity from fines and prosecution.

But even with this incentive, some say the system has flaws which will make it difficult to get accurate information.

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China is taking the responsibilty of their pollution. This is a very honorable thing for China to do especially after all the controversy about the Olympics and their poisonous dumplings. Maybe this will start a new world trend of logging pollution.

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