"China Tries To Go Green"

...August in Beijing is dreaded for its brutal heat and humidity, which conspire with high levels of pollution, dust, and sand blowing in from the Gobi Desert. The air gets thicker and hazier, despite the fact that it's also the rainy season.

...(The government in Beijing is) busy battling the problem by instituting new power-saving measures to curb energy consumption in order to reduce pollution and laying the groundwork for, well, near-perfect weather.

...This week, officials at China's Meteorological Administration are launching a practice session firing rockets into the sky to disperse rain clouds. The drill is designed to simulate part of the climate-control process scheduled to take place around this time next year in preparation for the Olympic Games.

Early this month, when Beijing was hit by a muggy mini-heat wave, President Hu Jintao and other senior leaders initiated a creative solution for energy conservation: they swapped their suits and ties for white-collared shirts.

The breezier garb comes in handy now that the State Council (China's cabinet) has ruled air conditioners cannot be set any cooler than 79 degrees Fahrenheit. A team of 22 officials are on hand to check that offices, hotels, malls, and other big buildings in the city are observing the new ruling.

Authorities will also try out a test-run ban to ease the smog. Beginning the first week of August, one third of the capital's 3 million cars will be taken off the streets for several weeks. Officials have not said how they'll proceed, but it's not their first time. Last November, during a major China-Africa leadership summit, the city banned nearly half a million vehicles, helping to pave – ahem – the way for blue skies.

Attempts to tackle pollution aren't limited to the capital city.

Workers have continued to build "The Green Wall," approximately a 400-mile barrier of trees and enclosed grassland stretching across China's northern frontier, to be completed by 2010.

Scientists in the southern city of Guangzhou are trying to create a new species of trees that can "resist" pollution.

In Shenzhen, home to one of China's first great experiments with capitalism, the mayor issued a plea to its affluent citizens to stop buying cars in an effort to help ease growing pollution.