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Good News on China's Environment
China Leading in Green Energy
Known:- China has a huge demand for more power plants so they are buying 9X more than the US.
- The Chinese government is also pushing green energy (10x the investment of the US).
- Lower cost of manufacturing.
- Plus rare metals used in the generators.
Therefore:- Chinese has become the largest manufacturer of wind turbines in the world.
Results: - Great for China
- Worrisome for the US.
Reference:Labels: china's future, chinese environment
China & Copenhagen
The climate summit in Copenhagen reminds me of Rashomon. Two articles: I have read 3 versions so far what happened. One is basically it's China's fault the Copenhagen resulted in a meaningless agreement. The other is China was defending it's economic growth against attempted secret meetings and agreements by other governments. The third version is the third world scuttled the agreement due to not getting enough payment from the first world. Labels: china's future, chinese environment
Beijing's Air Improving?
Pleasant surprise. Very impressive the small and major measures that have been taken to clean up the air. From moving a steel plant (that made no sense to be in Beijing to begin with), to giving residences electric heaters to reduce the use of coal in heating. Labels: chinese environment
Solar Water Heating Huge in China
China, green? In the case of solar water heating, yes LA Times. If you go to Scotty's Castle in Death Valley, you will see a still functioning Solar Water heater from the 1920's. There used to be a huge amount in Southern California, but cheap Natural Gas doomed them. Slight come back in the Carter era, but that went away after the subsidies did. Now they are coming back again! And China is leading the way. Interesting. I wish California was pushing more of them, they just make sense for many areas. The temperature was around 100 F this entire week! Labels: chinese environment
China's Great Leap Forward in Green Products
Can I Clean Your Clock? by Thomas Friedman. It seems that China is now putting a priority on production of green products such as Solar, Wind, and other areas... And this is supposed to be the future in many areas of jobs for the US, except it may be a Made in China future. Labels: chinese environment
Beijing Olympic Pollution
I find it exciting that this was measured at all, results are interesting and I hope they spur China's government for more efforts that are effective on cleaning up the pollution there. Beijing air pollution was up to 3.5 times higher than at Summer Games in Athens, Atlanta and Sydney. Labels: china economy, chinese environment
China's Environmental Back Pedaling
Sad - Slump Tilts Priorities of Industry in China - NY Times A pre-Olympics push on the environment has slipped as Chinese officials concentrate on growth.
I was getting hopeful I would need to update my lesson plan on China's Environment. Pollution in China - Lesson Plan  | |  | | | Discussing the current state of pollution in China, it's effect on the local population, what the Chinese Government is doing about it, and comparing it to pollution in the United States and what the current trends are.  |
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Labels: chinese environment
Saving The South China Tiger
China Protests on Factory
From the Washingtonpost - In China, Protesters Clash With Police Over Dangerous Factory. Massive protests in several cities about a chemical plant. Here is more information on what was going to be produced in the plant People vs. chemical plant -- china.org.cn.Interesting Points:1. Factory was going to be located in an area with residential buildings. 2. Property values decreased after the building was announced in the area. 3. Blogging and Cell Phones were used for organizing opposition. 4. Plant was making chemicals for plastics. 5. Supposedly plant was financed by Taiwanese company. 6. Local officials are judged by GDP growth. 7. 1 Million Text messages were sent about the plant. 8. This has also gotten press within China. More Resources: Labels: chinese environment
Disposable Chopsticks - Not Good for the Environment
disposable Chopsticks per some are an environmental because they are not reused. They increase deforestation. There was a protest against chopsticks at a Microsoft facility in Beijing that made the Wall Street Journal. Great publicity! 63 Billion disposable chopsticks are made each year in China. The problem is many people believe the chopsticks are more sanitary than reused ones. For noodle soup and other Chinese Food, the wooden chopsticks are better to use than plastic ones because they hold the noodles better. Some even suggest bringing your own chopsticks where you clean them in the restaurant before leaving (first I had heard about this). Correction, my daughter has reusable chopsticks she takes to school, and per my wife metal chopsticks that are reusable are popular in Taiwan. I just never thought of taking them to a restaurant. I wonder, what type of chopsticks are on the front cover of Dim Sum For Everyone! by Grace Lin. A cute book about Dim Sum that with a cute girl with chopsticks on the front. Labels: chinese environment, Chinese Food
Toxic Toys and Chinese Workers
Toxic Factories Take Toll On China's Labor Force from the Wall Street Journal. Good article. Key Points: 1. More that 10% of China's arable land is contaminated with heavy metals such as cadmium, according to the State Environmental Protection Agency, and the metals are entering China's food supply. Take Away - Food Safety Issue... 2. GP quit making them at its plants, and now outsources that production to independent factories in China. Shows the use of sub-contracting in China's manufacturing.3. A person present at the Huizhou police station says the workers were told they would be charged with treason if they spoke to the media again. The Huizhou government says its police detained no battery workers. Somebody is lying... Local governments that have factories that don't meet safety requirements don't want this exposed/published outside the country.
4. A second test showed Ms. Wang's cadmium level in the normal range, disqualifying her for assistance. With her later health problems, I would not be surprised if the second test results were faked. Government-run occupational-disease hospital did the testing, the same government that may have asked the local police to have a talk with Ms. Wang's party.
5. The article shows the inability of Western companies to monitor the safety of workers producing their products. Especially with sub-contracting. 6. Toys are an incredible cost competitive area, where what matters for most company is just the price since how do you know when a product has been responsibly made, verses one that has not been. Links: Toxic Factories Take Toll On China's Labor Force - Wall Street JournalPollution in China - Lesson Plan From Childbook
More than 10% of arable land polluted - From China Daily.
More links on Heavy Metal in China - Foreign Policy Blog 1 Million factories and 50,000 personnel (and all are not inspectors). Labels: China Toys, chinese environment
Pollution in China Lesson Plan
Good article in the NY Times on Environmentalism in China. I need to update the lesson plan I created on Pollution in China a while ago. China changes so fast! Pollution is a major challenge that China faces in it's amazing rapid growth. Pollution is a problem and needs to be weighed against the economic growth needed to sustain the party in power. It's a huge positive the amount of people in China whom are no longer in poverty because of all the growth. The Economist had a front cover story about some of the challenges China is facing and it's free without subscription! China, beware The country's rulers care too much for their own welfare, and too little about the rural peasants http://www.economist.com/opinion/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9947069Economist is one of my favorite magazines. Labels: chinese environment, chinese lesson plan, chinese pollution
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