Beijing environment and ecology

Like all the large cities in asia, Beijing in suffering from a very (too) fast devellopment:

Traffic jams due to the increasing number of cars, only few underground parkings built, bad management of the road traffic, and non-respect driving rules by drivers..

Atmospheric pollution, mainly due to cars (the clean cars are not obligatory, the petrol without plomb just appeared, the electronics injectors are only obligatory since a few years) and also due to the manufacturies close to the town. During the winter, pollution due to individual coal heating adds up, You can find them in all the old houses of the center, and in thermal centrals for common heating.

Dust from sand and dirt, swept by the wind from the many construction grounds.

Water quality deterioration, due to excessive pumping of the under ground water and due to not under control industrial rejections.

The sad conclusion of this quick painting is that Beijing is one of the most polluted city in China and and non enhamcing is to be expect at middle term. Images of the people going with chirurgical gas masks in the streets will be more and more common in future years. On the countrary, happy dar users will avoid to open there windows!

To conclude, it's good to add that the sand storms which sweep across Beijing during the spring (often in March/April), from the nearby Gobi desert are more and more rare in the city center, due to suburb development around the chine capital.

Links to check:

	http://www.usembassy-china.gov/english/sandt/Airq3wb.htm
	http://www.usembassy-china.gov/english/sandt/bjplca.htm
	http://www.chinanews.org/AcrossCountry/Beijing_w/general/siji.html