Beijing Imposes Car Ban

China Daily reported that the government in Beijing will be imposing restrictions on car use, similar to what was used during the Olympic Games. The effort to clean the skies up is likely directly related to the clean skies that we were able to enjoy during the games. Word had it that people in Beijing were a tad disgruntled that the skies could be so clean and weren't too thrilled about the weather going back to what it was. although, since this restriction includes private vehicles, those same Beijing-ren* will likely not enjoy not being able to use their cars when they wan't.

i understand the need to clean up the skies, but i don't understand the car bans. first, the cars are only part of the problem, with the amount of idustry in the surounding regions also taking its toll on air quality. those same factories were also restricted (ie. shut down completely) during the games. but most importantly, this seems like a cosmetic and not a surgical solution to the problem. the fact that China still lacks emission standards and that cars still don't (unless every car owner in china i know was lying to me) have catalytic converters. those were two of the big influences on the progress made in reducing smog in areas like Los Angeles. Smog checks and c-convertors. Part of the problem is that the car companies that sell cars to China don't require catalytic convertors if they don't have to. while one can blame such companies for being "ecologically insensitive," you can't blame them for not wanting to spend money they don't have to on the production of their vehicles. dealing with this problem would be more forward looking, but again, i don't believe this set of restrictions has anything to do with being forward looking.