As the start of the Olympics draws near, you may be reading and hearing about the pollution in Beijing, the site of the 2008 Summer Olympics, August 8 – 24. With just 12 days until the events start, the skies are thick with pollution – here’s a photo of the hazy Beijing skies, taken on Monday, July 28 (you can just barely make out the cars on the highway).
Beijing is often cited as one of the most polluted cities in the world. According to various news articles, the pollution is currently at Level 3, “slightly polluted” or over 100 (on a scale of 1 – 500) – basically all of these measures indicate that it is above an acceptable range. A temporary air pollution control plan was put into place beginning on July 20. Most notably, the number of cars on the streets has been cut in ½ by limiting driving based on odd and even dates and the last digit of the car’s license plate. In addition, some factories have been temporarily shut down for months in order to help reduce pollution.
So, athletes are coming to Beijing from all over the world to compete in events that require them to be in top athletic form, and breathing right is a huge part of their efforts. In addition, as many as 25% of the athletes have asthma, which makes for an even greater issue with the pollution in the city. Some countries are even allowing athletes to withdraw from the Olympics should they have concerns over air quality. And the International Olympic Committee said it will postpone events to the following month if necessary.
This story once again reminds me about how closely the health of our environment is tied to the health of our bodies. In the case of Beijing, fewer people driving means more people will get exercise by walking to work or at least walking to public transportation. I often see environmental suggestions that are healthy too, and I thought this would be a good time and place to share them:
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Take a one-day driving holiday per month (or even one day per week!) – cuts down on gas use and emissions and helps us get our 10,000 steps per day;
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Eat organically and locally – saves fuel and pollution and limits the pesticides we consume;
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Eat fewer packaged/processed foods – means fewer less healthy ingredients we can’t even pronounce;
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Unplug the TV, DVD player or gaming system – uses less electricity and encourages us to do something good for our bodies instead;
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Drink tap water instead of bottled drinks – uses less plastic (and all of the resources that go into making the bottles) and helps us get our 6-8 glasses of water per day; and
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Recycling sports equipment online – reduces landfill waste and helps someone else exercise.
In fact, there are almost no positive environmental changes I can think of that would negatively affect our personal health. If you have other green changes that are healthy too, please share them with the Ignite community – just post a comment to this blog.
Kerry
