WOW really?!

china one of the most polluted countries in the world going eco-friendly?

Correction Corkie: China IS the most polluted country in the world. They are trying to clean out and they might even shut down the city during the olympics, but still the weather is just going to blow smog into the area. The US team is very likely to go set camp in another country with less contaminated air. This kind of pollution could exacerbate athletes respiratory issues and nobody wants to risk being disqualified because they needed medicines that are on the black list.

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Being married is so much fun!

Good for them for taking sustainability into account!

i think its a bit crazy to have the olympics in China - for one, they are spending over 45 billion dollars on the olympics to make new stadiums etc. that will not benefit the majority of the people in china afterwards, where as most countries spend about 14 billion. instead of using this money to directly benefit the people...i read about how "certain" people are kept out of the city centre when special events take place, so they won't be able to enjoy the international atmosphere of the olympics. do they need a stadium to hold 90,000 people when most people can't afford to attend events?!

i agree that it is good that china is doing something to try not to have dead olympiads from around the world in Beijing (they died from effects of pollution i think) but yeah - they moved their factories to suburbs instead of the main city etc. so i just don't know. maybe it will be good in that people will come to realize more how people live in China?! i don't know how hopeful i am about that particular enlightenment...

For China it is kind of its presentation in society tdamji. They are not doing this Olympics for the people, they are doing it to establish their new position of leadership in the world.

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Today is a sad day.

i totally agree Shiloh!

Well, I don't know. Maybe I'm overly optimistic and just SUCH an Olympics lover , but I think this is more their bid to *join* the world society. They've been so isolationist for so long, that I really think its significant for them to host these games. And, I think of the dillions of foreigners that will be pouring into a relatively closed country, not to mention all of us watching it all on tv and possibly learning something about the nation. I don't know, I think this could be a good thing long term.

But, my obsessive love for the Olympics may be clouding my judgement...