Home/Posts Tagged ‘China’
Posts Tagged ‘China’
Green living, Weird Stuff, Wildlife & Flora, Nov 4th, 2010,
Asians are known to treat animals quiet differently than Europeans or Americans do. But their latest invention really gives me the creeps. Hungry commuters can now grab live crabs from vending machines on their way home. In the municipality of Nanjing in China crab dishes are already very popular. With the vending machines, the Twin Lake Crab Company, a big crab seller in China, wants to make crab more easily available to consumers. A living crab from the vending machines costs between € 2 and € 6 (between $ 3 and $ 9) depending on the size of the crab…
Tags: China, chinese crabs, consumption, crab, crab sales, live crabs in vending machines, vending machines
Climate Change, Politics, Pollution, Videos & Documentaries, Oct 12th, 2010,
“The Choice Between Poverty and Poison” Parts of China are awash in electronic waste, or “e-waste”; a rising tide of circuit boards, glass monitors and other bits and bobs of computers that we don’t want anymore due to their having become passé and no longer suited to our hyper-modern, technology and consumer-driven lifestyles. Chinese towns, such as the now infamous Guiyu in the south of the country, are dedicated e-waste recycling centers, dominated, darkened and scarred by the toxic trash industry. In very poor and basic conditions, metals such as lead, copper and gold are extracted from recycled e-waste via…
Tags: China, computer recycling, computer waste, e-waste, electronic waste, Recycling
Climate Change, Politics, Oct 6th, 2010,
The UN climate talks currently underway in Tianjin, China are smaller, more subdued and well organized when compared to the major international event at Copenhagen last December. But in the end they are still about China vs. the United States. Tianjin is being seen as an opportunity to find some common ground before the UN summit in Cancún, Mexico later this year, but the chief US envoy is frustrated at the level and speed of progress taking place. Instead of actual progress he sees backtracking. From a report in the Guardian: What is frustrating in these negotiations is to see…
Tags: China, climate, Climate change, copenhagen, low expectations, talks, Tianjin, UN, US
Green living, Science & Technology, Weird Stuff, Oct 5th, 2010,
It’s been months since I’ve written anything about green architecture, but that certainly didn’t stop people from dreaming or designing new ideas. Museums, retirement homes, shopping centers, schools and office spaces are created (or at least drawn up) all the time, but these particular designs caught my attention for one reason: they all float (or have floating-like qualities). Check them out: Xiamen Museum Designed by MAD Architects and destined for Xiamen City in China, this is one of the most unique museum ideas I have ever seen. The Xiamen Museum is an odd shaped, 3-story structure that would cover about…
Tags: China, float, green architecture, green design, hang, Italy, Ja StudioInc, MAD Architects, Michael Jantzen, orbit, Orbiting Eco-House, Slow Uprising, Xiamen Museum
Climate Change, Politics, Oct 4th, 2010,
This week the final UN climate talks leading up to the summit in Cancun Mexico will be held in Tianjin, China, a large manufacturing city of over 12 million people. In the aftermath of a failed climate summit in Copenhagen last December, hope for any binding treaty between nations is slim. Kyoto part 2 seems like a politically impossible pipedream. Good news for the fossil fuel industry, bad news for most everyone else. If we believe the scientists, that is. From a Reuters article: Scientists say the world is on track for temperatures to rise well beyond 2 degrees Celsius,…
Tags: Cancun, China, climate, summit, Tianjin, UN
Nature, Videos & Documentaries, Sep 29th, 2010,
A tidal bore is when waves of water rush through a narrow passage against the natural current of a body of water. Tidal bores are actually tidal waves, which are often mistakenly confused with tsunamis. Sometimes the phenomena of seawater being funneled through a river mouth can be quite spectacular, such as the annual tidal bore in China’s Qiantang River. From ITN News: Each year, just after the mid-Autumn festival, when the moon is at its fullest, a huge waves rolls along the wide mouth of the Qiantang near Hangzhou in China’s eastern Zhejiang province. Watch this dramatic video footage…
Tags: China, Qiantang, river, tidal bore, video, waves
Climate Change, Science & Technology, Sep 16th, 2010,
Future fossil fuel infrastructure set to be built between now and 2060 will have the strongest effect on climate change, according to a report in the journal Science. The global demand for energy is quickly rising, while political agreements and regulations to curb the resultant rise in greenhouse gas emissions have so far failed. A new study from scientists in the US and Canada has calculated that most of the ‘key’ impacts of climate change could be avoided if no further CO2 power plants were built and that the real risks come from fossil fuel-based energy infrastructure which has yet…
Tags: China, Climate change, co2, coal, emissions, energy, fossil fuel, future, greenhouse gas, infrastucture, science
Politics, Videos & Documentaries, Sep 14th, 2010,
Xinjiang autonomous region is China’s frontier land for renewable energy. China has poured cash into wind energy projects in Xinjiang, fuelling a boom in the country’s largest and most western region. Because of the Chinese government’s investment in renewables, like the wind farms of Xinjiang, China has recently been named the best place to invest in green energy. But for many people in Xinjiang, particularly the Muslim Uyghur community who make up its largest ethnic group, the ‘wind rush’ is just another stage of colonization by the People’s Republic of China. Uyghers have for the most part not benefitted from…
Tags: boom, China, energy, Muslim, Uyghur, wind, Xinjiang
Health, Pollution, Videos & Documentaries, Sep 12th, 2010,
Xintang, China is home to some 15,000 textile factories which produce 200 million pairs of blue jeans every year. The wastewater from these factories turns local rivers an unnatural shade of blue. Residents of Xintang complain of health problems such as birth defects, breathing difficulties and skin rashes, but no serious studies have been conducted to link health maladies to pollutants from the textile industry. Meanwhile, the cotton industry in India is being blamed for health problems linked to the toxic pesticide endosulfan. Pesticides are also believed to cause children’s hair to turn grey. But pesticides and cotton are huge…
Tags: blue, China, cotton, factories, Greenpeace, health problems, India, jeans, Pearl River, pesticides, river, textiles, Xintang
Climate Change, Politics, Sep 4th, 2010,
The UK’s chief environmental scientist has stated that Britain’s greenhouse gas emissions have actually increased in the last 20 years due to ‘hidden’ emissions in imported goods. Since last year, China has been labeled the number one emitter of greenhouse gases, though it is the West that fuels much of China’s emissions by importing so much from the rapidly developing Asian super power. From a report in the Guardian: Speaking in a documentary to be broadcast on BBC Radio 4 next week, Professor Bob Watson said there was a need to be more open about the rises in emissions generated…
Tags: biofuels, carbon, China, emissions, gasses, greenhouse, shipping, UK
Videos & Documentaries, Wildlife & Flora, Aug 30th, 2010,
‘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 the suffering they are supporting. The film is part of an effort to get animal welfare legislation laws – of which there are none in China – drafted and passed. Beaten throughout its life, declawed, de-toothed and kept in unsanitary conditions – this is…
Tags: abuse, animals, Asia, bears, China, Chinese, circuses, cruelty, documentary, film, monkey, park, The Performance, zoos
Videos & Documentaries, Wildlife & Flora, Aug 28th, 2010,
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 entertainment of ignorant crowds. There are no animal protection laws in China to prohibit such behavior. The Hong Kong-based animal welfare group Animals Asia visited 13 zoos and animal parks in China and compiled statistics and video footage into a report documenting the abuse….
Tags: abuse, animal, Asia, bear, China, Chinese, circuses, cruelty, lion, parks, show, zoos
Climate Change, Pollution, Aug 27th, 2010,
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 as we fund both these situations. Yes, indirectly we fuel their coal plants and line the pockets of their industry, while our large corporations and governments help keep Chinese working conditions suitably shocking. Aren’t we just the worst? Actually, China should be grabbing even…
Tags: 10-day, Beijing, car, China, Chinese, coal, traffic, traffic jam
Climate Change, Nature, Aug 21st, 2010,
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 assess the impact of responses such as the biofuel industry, which has contributed to the destruction of rainforests and peat bogs in South East Asia. Hydropower projects like China’s massive Three Gorges Dam have also left their marks on biological habitats. From the…
Tags: action, biodiversity, biofuel, China, Climate change, ecologist, ecosystem, human, humanity, impact, Indonesia, react, resource, response, study, Three Gorges Dam
Nature, Videos & Documentaries, ,
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 ravaged Pakistan have forced millions of people to flee their homes and villages, but a small number stubbornly refused to leave their homes despite the risk posed by rising flood waters.
Tags: China, dramatic, extreme, floods, Pakistan, video, weather
Climate Change, Nature, Aug 18th, 2010,
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 Reuters article: Officials broke the silence over the effects of the heat and smoke on Aug. 9, when the head of Moscow’s health department, Andrei Seltsovsky, said deaths had doubled to 700 per day and heat was the main cause. Meanwhile in China…
Tags: China, deaths, extreme, floods, heat, landslide, Moscow, Pakistan, Russia, Smog, wave
Green living, Politics, ,
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 and computers – in rich nations, means the world will enter into ecological debt one month earlier this year. According to the New Economics Foundation (NEF) ‘Earth Overshoot Day’ will fall on August 21st compared to September 23rd last year. From an article on…
Tags: China, consumption, Day, debt, Earth, ecological, economics, energy, foundation, NEF, new, Overshoot
Climate Change, Nature, Videos & Documentaries, Aug 15th, 2010,
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 of cholera has also been confirmed. Independence Day in flood-hit Pakistan Over 2,000 people have been killed in China so far this year as a result of floods, which have triggered mudslides, buried villages and washed away homes. A further 600 people are still…
Tags: central, China, Colombia, dramatic, Europe, flash, flood, flooding, Iowa, Pakistan, report, video
Climate Change, Nature, Videos & Documentaries, Aug 14th, 2010,
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 most likely connected to human activity. Karl is the head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Climate Services office in Washington DC. From an article by the Associated Press: Russia and central Asia this year happen to be the epicentres of very…
Tags: australia, China, climate, events, extreme, flood, flooding, Karl, Pakistan, Russia, scientist, summer, Thomas, weather, wildfires
Politics, ,
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. They often live in dormitories located on the factory grounds, which sleep ten to a room, where they are forbidden to cook, to have sex, listen to music or take showers. Talking is not allowed while working and breaks are non-existent. Shifts are around…
Tags: China, computers, corporations, factory, government, Hari, Independent, Johann, labor, phones, slave, Western, workers
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