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Shanghai miracle of blue skies a promising sign
By Frank Jiang |
August 4, 2010, Wednesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
RECENTLY Shanghai has witnessed what seems to be a miracle - clear weather.
Blue skies and scattered white clouds like ripped open packets of marshmallow decorate the firmament; the stars at night are visible to the naked eye and twinkle like old nursery rhyme scenes.
It's the best weather since the beginning of the decade. The beautiful skies in Shanghai are not too different from the ones I used to see in Australia.
Most Westerners have complained, especially during the Olympics in Beijing, that the pollution is unhealthy as well as unsightly. Perhaps those fears can be somewhat assuaged now.
Aside from the old memories (when I used to glaze up at the night sky in Australia) swimming back into my mind, the improved weather in Shanghai (around 14 consecutive days) reminds me of an ancient Chinese poem. A Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279) poet Zhu Xi wrote about clouds and light reflecting off a small pond. Today it almost feels as if the words from the ancient poem are coming true.
But as the majority of Shanghai residents bathe in the night glory, as nature puts on a show for our enjoyment, we cannot forget what made this splendid weather possible - the people and their determination to realize the World Expo slogan, "Better City, Better Life."
In order to guarantee a better life and better city, we must first improve the weather. That's why officials, specialists and ordinary people from Shanghai and neighboring Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces came together in a joint effort to mobilize measures to achieve sustainability.
We must thank the people from these three areas for contributing to the environment.
Starting a few years ago, also as a lead up to the Expo, Shanghai began pulling its environmental levers and upgrading sustainability measures.
These include completing production of sulphur-removal equipment that would eliminate pollution from coal-burning power plants, and kicking out more than 3,000 companies that polluted and consumed a lot of energy.
Shanghai and neighboring provinces carried out measures restricting pollution from steel, chemical and textile industries within 300 kilometers of the Expo Park. Shanghai also prohibited the burning of straw and grass in certain areas such as Baoshan and Jiading districts.
Countering the negative effects of pollution, protecting the earth and the environment is a global concern.
Last year during the Copenhagen climate change conference, Premier Wen Jiabao promised that by 2020, China would reduce its carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP by 40 percent compared with 2005, down to 45 percent. An ambitious vision. But with Shanghai performing so exceptionally that vision might well be realized.
Let's hope that as a nation, Chinese can come together to tackle environmental problems and promote the spirit of environmentalism and conservation to achieve sustainability.
The weather conditions during the Expo are greatly encouraging. Let's hope the trend continues for generations to come.
(The author is an Australian student living and studying in Shanghai.)
Blue skies and scattered white clouds like ripped open packets of marshmallow decorate the firmament; the stars at night are visible to the naked eye and twinkle like old nursery rhyme scenes.
It's the best weather since the beginning of the decade. The beautiful skies in Shanghai are not too different from the ones I used to see in Australia.
Most Westerners have complained, especially during the Olympics in Beijing, that the pollution is unhealthy as well as unsightly. Perhaps those fears can be somewhat assuaged now.
Aside from the old memories (when I used to glaze up at the night sky in Australia) swimming back into my mind, the improved weather in Shanghai (around 14 consecutive days) reminds me of an ancient Chinese poem. A Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279) poet Zhu Xi wrote about clouds and light reflecting off a small pond. Today it almost feels as if the words from the ancient poem are coming true.
But as the majority of Shanghai residents bathe in the night glory, as nature puts on a show for our enjoyment, we cannot forget what made this splendid weather possible - the people and their determination to realize the World Expo slogan, "Better City, Better Life."
In order to guarantee a better life and better city, we must first improve the weather. That's why officials, specialists and ordinary people from Shanghai and neighboring Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces came together in a joint effort to mobilize measures to achieve sustainability.
We must thank the people from these three areas for contributing to the environment.
Starting a few years ago, also as a lead up to the Expo, Shanghai began pulling its environmental levers and upgrading sustainability measures.
These include completing production of sulphur-removal equipment that would eliminate pollution from coal-burning power plants, and kicking out more than 3,000 companies that polluted and consumed a lot of energy.
Shanghai and neighboring provinces carried out measures restricting pollution from steel, chemical and textile industries within 300 kilometers of the Expo Park. Shanghai also prohibited the burning of straw and grass in certain areas such as Baoshan and Jiading districts.
Countering the negative effects of pollution, protecting the earth and the environment is a global concern.
Last year during the Copenhagen climate change conference, Premier Wen Jiabao promised that by 2020, China would reduce its carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP by 40 percent compared with 2005, down to 45 percent. An ambitious vision. But with Shanghai performing so exceptionally that vision might well be realized.
Let's hope that as a nation, Chinese can come together to tackle environmental problems and promote the spirit of environmentalism and conservation to achieve sustainability.
The weather conditions during the Expo are greatly encouraging. Let's hope the trend continues for generations to come.
(The author is an Australian student living and studying in Shanghai.)
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