With most of Beijing’s Olympic venues now complete and the National Stadium to be completed in March next year, attention is being brought to Beijing’s environment, particularly the air quality. The IOC are in Beijing this week to check on Beijing’s preparations for the Olympic Games and the environment is sure to be on top of their agenda.

While some reports suggest Beijing’s air quality has been improving, there are some days when they sky takes on an incredible haze and you can’t make out buildings in the distance. People with asthma or other respiratory problems could have difficulty in Beijing.

Beijing is undergoing a major building boom at the moment, not just with Olympic related buildings, but offices and new apartments. The whole city is engulfed in a think layer of dust. Car washing services do a brisk trade. Sometimes walking around the city you get strong smells of some kind of toxic substances and food waste is sometimes just thrown into the streets. The IOC have even said that it could be possible that events will be moved if there is no alternative.

On the roads 1000 cars are added daily and despite the addition of new subway lines in Beijing, it doesn’t seem to have made any dent on the traffic.

Beijing Olympic organizers have gone to some trouble in building eco-friendly buildings for the Olympics, but these efforts could go unnoticed if people are having trouble breathing.