Qingdao/青岛, a beautiful coastal city in North China which is hosting the Olympic sailing events is gearing up every effort to clean up a horrific outbreak of algae. A month away from the Olympics, this really is the worst nightmare come true. The bright green algae extends several hundred meters along the coastline.

According to experts, the algae came from the central region of the Yellow Sea and has no affect on the water quality of the sea off the Qingdao coast. But one look at the algae makes one pretty skeptical. The city says it will clean up the algae in 2 weeks and it won’t have any impact on the sailing events. 

The public was badly shaken when Taihu/太湖, China’s third largest lake was plagued by blue algea 2 years ago. Tens of million’s people’s drinking water was contaminated. I remember it being the first environmental consequence that hit home in a large scale, triggering public panic, awareness and government actions.  Just today, I read in the paper that local governments are teaming up with EU and UN to draft green plans.

In a time of Olympic euphoria, we receive a sobering wake up call from mother nature.