Climate change, ecology, nature, environment, eco-friendly politics, non-profit projects, human rights, preservation, wildlife... all that we care about.
‘The Performance’ is a disturbing, but important film about animal abuse in China’s zoos, circuses and animal parks.
In conjunction with a new report by Hong Kong-based Animals Asia, ‘The Performance’ exposes the cruel treatment of animals such as black bears, big cats, monkeys and elephants for the entertainment of live audiences, who are unaware of [...]
Sticking your fist or head into the mouth of a declawed, de-toothed lion or tiger isn’t very impressive.
In Chinese zoos, animal parks and circuses the abuse of animals is widespread. Bears, monkeys, elephants, wolves and big cats are among the animals who are routinely beaten into submission and forced to do absurd tricks for the [...]
The colossal economic growth and rapid industrialization of China get a lot of media attention these days.
The Chinese collectively emit more CO2 than any nation and have recently moved into the ‘second largest economy in the world’ spot – and you can bet they won’t settle for second place for long. The developed world sweats [...]
The headline in The Ecologist, ‘Human response to climate change is making matters worse’, is a bit of a f*&#(^@ downer.
Upon reading the actual article, it doesn’t get that much better.
A recent study has researched the impacts of human response to climate change on biodiversity. The study, recently published in the journal Conservation Letters, attempts to [...]
Here are two video reports on the dramatic effects of recent extreme weather events in China and Pakistan.
From ITN News:
‘Train ripped apart on collapsed bridge in china’
Jaw dropping footage from when a passenger train split in half on a bridge which collapsed in the China floods.
From Al Jazeera English:
‘Fortitude amid Pakistan disaster’
The floods that have [...]
Two months of extreme heat in Russia will end after today according to Russian meteorologists, with rains expected in nearly all regions of European Russia.
The two-month long heat wave and resulting drought have caused thousands of deaths, severe pollution, thousands of wild fires and the loss of a third of the country’s wheat crop.
From a [...]
Despite growing environmental awareness and energy efficiency measures, the developed world consumes more than ever. At the same time people in China and much of the developing world are adopting more energy intensive lifestyles.
So more cars and meat consumption in China, etc., combined a growing obsession for the latest consumable goods – like phones, cars [...]
Pakistan, China, Australia, Afghanistan, India, Colombia, Central Europe and the US state of Iowa have all recently experienced destructive, though greatly varied, levels of flooding.
According to the prime minister of Pakistan, some 20 million people have already been affected by the floods there, while the UN puts the number at 14 million. The first case [...]
From Australia to China to Pakistan to Russia and central Europe, this summer has so far been characterized by extreme weather events such as torrential rains, flooding, drought and wildfires.
In the following video report by ITN News, climate scientist Thomas R. Karl explains how the current extreme weather events across the globe are linked and [...]
Workers in China don’t just have to fight ruthless parent corporations, oppressive subcontractors and draconian labor laws. They also have our insatiable desire for newer, cheaper and more cutting edge goods to contend with.
Chinese factory workers, who build our mobile phones, laptop computers and plastic knickknacks, have long worked in conditions tantamount to slave labor. [...]
While individual events like heat waves, cold snaps, floods and droughts cannot be attributed to man made climate change on an individual basis, scientists at the World Meteorological Association (WMO) say global warming exacerbates the intensity of recent extreme weather.
The floods in China, Pakistan and Afghanistan, the heat wave and resultant wild fires in Russia [...]
On Saturday heavy rains fell on Gansu province in northern China, resulting in landslides which buried at least three villages.
The death toll from the mudslides has now reached 702, according to Chinese officials, with more than 1,000 people still missing.
China has been experiencing its most severe flooding in a decade – and more rain is [...]
Astana is the second largest city in the central Asian country of Kazakhstan. It is a planned capital, located smack dab in the middle of the inhospitable Kazakh steppes, where temperatures range from -40C to 40C (-40F to 14F). Its population in 1999 was 281,000 but is expected to top 1 million by 2030.
Like other [...]
Since the environment and appearing to be green are increasingly in vogue, yet consumerism is more rampant than ever, a curious corporate, consumer and governmental culture is emerging.
It’s the culture of ‘lets not and say we did’.
For example, let’s go on about cutting emissions, but then expand offshore drilling. Or let’s make our corporate logo [...]
China’s worst flooding in ten years has resulted in widespread problems including over 1,250 people dead or missing, thousands of homes destroyed and billions of euros in damage to infrastructure.
One of the latest worries is that around 7,000 barrels, some containing toxic chemicals, were swept into the Songhua River on Wednesday. Authorities in China claim [...]
When I lived in the US we separated our newspapers, cans and some plastic bottles and put them into a container to be collected by a truck once a week. In Sweden we divided glass (both dark and light), metal, plastic, paper, batteries and light bulbs in a special structure in front of my apartment [...]
It was only three months ago that southern China was suffering from its worst drought in living memory. Now the heaviest rains in over a decade are causing floods, mudslides and other destruction there, as well as threatening the integrity of the massive Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River in Hubei province.
According to a [...]
Cap and trade or emissions trading schemes can be confusing. They have been touted as the chief market-based solution for limiting greenhouse gas emissions, preserving valuable natural resources like forests, while making money for rich and poor countries alike.
The far right and climate change skeptics hate them for obvious – and sometimes less obvious – [...]
Despite the recent economic downturn, the green energy market has grown to the point of eclipsing fossil fuel – at least in terms of the creation of new power capacity in Europe and the United States.
In 2009 renewables accounted for over 50% of new power capacity in the US and 60% in the Europe. Green [...]
Here are two video reports on the oil spill cleanup efforts in China’s Yellow Sea.
Two oil pipelines exploded on the 16th of this month in the major port city of Dalian in northern China, resulting in a massive fire and the largest oil spill in Chinese history.
The pipelines have now been repaired, but the environmental [...]
Friday’s oil pipeline explosion in the northern Chinese port of Dalian has resulted in a large oil slick in the Yellow Sea. The oil leaking from the two exploded pipelines has been stopped, but not before oil washed up on the coastline, soiling surrounding beaches and negatively impacting local wildlife and economic activity.
Thousands of firefighters, [...]
Tropical storm Conson, aka typhoon Basyang, is currently battering southern China after heavy rains and flooding have already punished the country for weeks.
The economic damage from China’s recent weather woes totals in billions of dollars, while evacuations in the affected areas have been widespread.
From an Al Jazeera English report/video:
Swollen rivers and landslides have already killed [...]
A 15-hour fire raged from Friday night into Saturday after an oil pipeline explosion at a busy port in Dalian, China.
It is not known what caused the pipeline – owned by the state-owned China National Petroleum Corp. – to explode at the port, but the fire started after a large oil tanker unloaded its cargo. [...]
According to China’s Civil Affairs Ministry, rainstorms and floods have left at least 118 people dead and a further 47 missing in southern China this month.
Damage from the flooding includes the destruction of some 101,000 houses, the relocation of 1.1 million people and an estimated financial toll of around $3.3bn (€2.6bn).
From a xinhuanet.com report:
By 4 [...]
When I was a little kid in the 1970s, my brother had a poster on his wall depicting an artist’s renderings of three possible future environments with the headline, ‘Which future would you choose?’
One showed a future in which man had chosen to live in harmony with nature and developed eco-friendly technology. A thriving green [...]
Heavy rains continue to fall in southern China, raising the death toll to 377 and it’s not likely to stop there. At least 142 people are still missing and more rain is still expected.
Thus far, the flooding has caused nearly $11 billion in damages, forced the evacuation of 4.4 million people, and collapsed 368,000 [...]
Over the past 2 weeks, China has been slammed with rains, floods and landslides leaving a trail of at least 175 dead, 107 missing and 1.7 million people evacuated since it all began—and there is no indication of the rain stopping any time soon.
At least 35 rivers have risen past their warning marks and pose [...]
Earlier this month, floods swept through China and killed at least 53 people. Now, another series of massive floods have killed at least 132 people and forced the evacuation of 860,000 others.
The Asian nation has been pounded by torrential rains since June 13th, causing major rivers to overflow and affecting over 10 million people. Many [...]
Flooding has swept away many homes and lives in China recently. However, it may surprise you to learn that the biggest threat is a lack of water, not the rising of it.
Thousands of Tibetans face possible drought as a result of Global Warming and environmental degradation. It’s a rather devastating domino effect in the works [...]
China can’t seem to get a break from flooding this year.
Torrential rains tore through China’s southwestern Guangxi region between May 31st and June 2nd, causing flooding and landslides that killed at least 53 people. Rescue workers found about 20 bodies during the aftermath and unfortunately, findings included children.
Three children, aged between 8 and 11, met [...]
