China Olympics and Algae: Bad News, Good News, Bad News

It's harmless. Beneficial, actually, but the bright-green mats of algae are in the wrong place, at the wrong time.

I'm not a really big fan of China's current regime ("YouTube Banned by China: Online Censorship?" (March 17, 2008)), but I have some sympathy for China's leaders, as their big moment approaches.

Floods, earthquakes, and Tibet protests have pulled attention away from the games - and from potentially-lucrative lapel pin sales. (Companies that would have bought the pins spend the money on flood relief instead.)

I still think that building open-air venues for use in the rainy season is unwise. Even if China's leadership assures us that they'll banish rain, with their cloud seeding technology.

Now, on top of everything else, they've got green goop where Olympic sailors plan to compete.


(from AFP, used w/o permission)

"Workers scramble to clear embarrassing algae sludge"
AFP (July 3, 2008)

"QINGDAO, China (AFP) — China scrambled Thursday to clear tonnes of algae that is covering a third of the Olympic sailing course and causing huge embarrassment for authorities trying to promote a 'Green Games.'

"Ten thousand workers, bulldozers and dump trucks were being used to clear the green sludge off the coast of Qingdao, which has disrupted preparations for international competitors already in town to prepare for next month's event.

"Qingdao local government said on its website that an "emergency response" team had been set up to deal with the issue...."

Pulling together what I've found, here and elsewhere, it's a case of bad news, good news, more bad news.

• Bad News:
  Something got in the water, right where the Olympic sailing competition's planned
• Good News:
  Naturally-occurring algae is eating the pollutants: and converting carbon dioxide to oxygen in the process
• Bad News:
  There's so much of the algae that it's been called 'the fairway'

Faced with a lush green carpet where open water should be, I think the Australian team's Karyn Gojnich made the best comment: "Oh my goodness."

This is definitely not what China had in mind for their Olympics.

More news about China's bright green Olympics, and what China's doing about it:

• "Qingdao rush to tackle algae bloom around Olympic venue"
  China Daily (July 3, 2008)
  
  (from China Daily, used w/o permission)
• "China mobilizes resources nationwide to tackle Olympic venue algae"
  Xinhua (July 3, 2008)
• "Bad News Plagues Beijing Olympics as Algae, Locusts Threaten"
  Bloomberg (July 3, 2008)
  
  (from Bloomberg, used w/o permission)
• "Blob, Carpet, Fairway? Algae Nightmare Blooms at China's Olympic Sailing Venue"
  FOXNews (July 3, 2008)

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Update (August 11, 2008)

I've been shown China Olympics 2008, a blog about the 2008 Summer Olympics. It looks like a convenient spot to check on the games: one of many on the Web (see "A Very Google Olympics" (August 10, 2008)).

Thanks, Don.