Quick Search
Categories
- Stevens Institute of Technology
- Pay to Play
- Content Research Area
- Quality of Life Issues
- OPRA (Open Public Records Act)
- Bribes, Payoffs, and Politics
- Letters to the Editor
- Voter Information
- OPMA (Open Public Meetings Act)
- FREE SPEECH and INTERNET ISSUES
- Eminent Domain
- Governor Corzine
- Editorials
- Lawsuits and Legal Actions
- Hoboken News
- Health Issues
- Employment Opportunities
- Regionalize and Shared Services
- Investigations (Restricted Access)
- Government
- Public Official Report Card
- Political Commentary
- Technology
- Payments In Lieu of Taxes
- Consumer Issues
- Affordable Housing
- 2006 N.J. U.S. Senate Race
- U.S. Senator Robert Menendez
- Homeland Security
- NJ NY Port Authority
- R.I.C.O. Act
- NJ.COM
- Editorials - New Jersey Newspapers
- POG - People for OPen Government
- Classifieds
- Politics
- Investigative Agencies
- Hoboken City Council Video
- Presidential Election 2008
- Investigative Report
- Obama
- Area Event Calendar
- Presedential electiom 2008
- New Jersey League of Municipalities
- NJ State Court System
- National Politics
- Social Interaction
- Shrink for Men
- Governor Chris Christie
- Tenant Rights
- NJ League of Municipalities
- ObamaCare
- NYC GROUND ZERO
- Political Figures
- Health Care
- Hoboken Lawsuits
- Featured News
- NYSC
- IRS TAX RELIEF
- Federal Budget
- Healthcare Fraud
- New Jersey For Profit Hospitals
- Hudson County Emergency Medical Services
Olympic Aftermath - Beijing, China, And the Environment
- 9-5-2008
- Categorized in: Politics
With the post-Olympic headlines understandably focused on the sporting achievements of the likes of Usain Bolt and his domination of the sprint events, or team G.B's new record gold medal tally, it is perhaps expected that that which dominated media coverage before the event - the environmental policy of Beijing - has fallen temporarily to the sidelines.
But talk before and during the games signaled Beijing as a particularly special Olympics because of the political resonance of the event; the various political divisions that many see as characterising China as a nation state, including their human rights record, their dominance in trade, and their continuing commitment to the 'One Party State'. Indeed it has been difficult over the last year to avoid discussion of the integrity of Beijing and the Chinese government, and whether their domestic and international policies represent a nation that was worthy of holding an international event with the stature of the Olympics.
That argument manifested itself quite cogently in the months before the event, in the coverage of the nation's environmental efforts, mostly because journalists could make an obvious connection between Chinese national policy and the health of the Olympic athletes, rendering the broader political interest in the games as directly relative to the sport itself.
Armed with the humanist metaphor of the Olympic games and its association with fairness, equality of opportunity and the quest for human excellence, the world's media set about a deconstruction of China's ideologies and intentions, using the environment as its motif; the most fashionable topics on the planet, CO2 emissions, global warming, and climate change, were a fitting combination of concepts that could be used to attack a nation that many believe to be unethical on a number of fronts.
That began in earnest with discussions on the measures that Beijing had put in place since its Olympic bid in 2001, of which a majority of Western journalists deemed there were little; indeed many claim that it was only in the short term that China has made any difference to its environmental performance, when it closed hundreds of harmful factories and removed an estimated 1.5m cars from its roads.
Critics simply claimed that it was 'too little, too late', and used environmental policy as a case in point for what they believe to be China's disregard for individual and national welfare, and the international community at large. For skeptics, it was a key battle that China had lost; they had not used the Olympics as a way to develop sustainable infrastructures for the improvement of the nation's environment and ecosystems, just as it had not matched its successful Olympic bid with a more co-operative foreign or human rights policy, as critics argued they had shown over Tibet, of which there was much media coverage in the countdown to the games.
What Beijing 2008 has shown us, then, is that the environment is just as important as a concept as it is in reality; the importance of climate change, global warming and CO2 emissions to the media and the general public at large has grown so considerably that it is the chief political tool in the discussion, promotion and criticism of countries, companies and politicians.
That combination of the metaphorical and the actual is a powerful combination indeed.
But talk before and during the games signaled Beijing as a particularly special Olympics because of the political resonance of the event; the various political divisions that many see as characterising China as a nation state, including their human rights record, their dominance in trade, and their continuing commitment to the 'One Party State'. Indeed it has been difficult over the last year to avoid discussion of the integrity of Beijing and the Chinese government, and whether their domestic and international policies represent a nation that was worthy of holding an international event with the stature of the Olympics.
That argument manifested itself quite cogently in the months before the event, in the coverage of the nation's environmental efforts, mostly because journalists could make an obvious connection between Chinese national policy and the health of the Olympic athletes, rendering the broader political interest in the games as directly relative to the sport itself.
Armed with the humanist metaphor of the Olympic games and its association with fairness, equality of opportunity and the quest for human excellence, the world's media set about a deconstruction of China's ideologies and intentions, using the environment as its motif; the most fashionable topics on the planet, CO2 emissions, global warming, and climate change, were a fitting combination of concepts that could be used to attack a nation that many believe to be unethical on a number of fronts.
That began in earnest with discussions on the measures that Beijing had put in place since its Olympic bid in 2001, of which a majority of Western journalists deemed there were little; indeed many claim that it was only in the short term that China has made any difference to its environmental performance, when it closed hundreds of harmful factories and removed an estimated 1.5m cars from its roads.
Critics simply claimed that it was 'too little, too late', and used environmental policy as a case in point for what they believe to be China's disregard for individual and national welfare, and the international community at large. For skeptics, it was a key battle that China had lost; they had not used the Olympics as a way to develop sustainable infrastructures for the improvement of the nation's environment and ecosystems, just as it had not matched its successful Olympic bid with a more co-operative foreign or human rights policy, as critics argued they had shown over Tibet, of which there was much media coverage in the countdown to the games.
What Beijing 2008 has shown us, then, is that the environment is just as important as a concept as it is in reality; the importance of climate change, global warming and CO2 emissions to the media and the general public at large has grown so considerably that it is the chief political tool in the discussion, promotion and criticism of countries, companies and politicians.
That combination of the metaphorical and the actual is a powerful combination indeed.
Email to Friend
Fill in the form below to send this article to a friend:
Recent Blogs
- HAS PREDATORY HEALTH CARE LENDING COME TO HOBOKEN?
- The Emotionally Abusive Personality: Is She a Borderline or a Narcissist?
- Withholding Sex as a Form of Punishment
- Don't Marry Essay. Why Marriage Has Become a Raw Deal for Men
- NJ Business Facts
- What the Parking/Transportation industry is saying about Hoboken's Automated Garage
- You can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig
- Hoboken Board of Education
Recent Employment Opportunities
- Technology Consultant - City of Hoboken
- Finance Director City of Hoboken
- ELECTRICAL INSPECTOR
- Civil Service Commission Seeks Entry-Level Firefighter Applicants Applications for the entry-level Firefighter Test will be accepted for 70 municipalities and other local jurisdictions
- Senior Accountant: Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, NJ
- City of Hoboken - Fire Department Audit
- Hoboken: ZONING OFFICER