Home/Posts Tagged ‘Chinese’
Posts Tagged ‘Chinese’
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
Videos & Documentaries, Aug 9th, 2010,
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 planned capitals, including Brasilia and Canberra, Astana is a ‘capital from zero’. But Astana’s purpose – at least according to its now deceased architect, Japan’s Kisho Kurokawa – was to meet and profit from the coming protein crisis spurred on by China’s rocketing economic…
Tags: Astana, China, Chinese, cities, fossil, fuel, Kangbashi, Kazakhstan, modern, Ordos, population, steppes
Pollution, Aug 1st, 2010,
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 that nearly 3,000 have been recovered, but whether the barrels were empty or full is unclear. From a BBC News report: It is a source of drinking-water for several million people and is being tested for possible contamination, but officials have said there is…
Tags: Amur, Barrels, chemicals, China, Chinese, leak, river, Russia, Russian, Songhua, TOXIC, water
Pollution, Videos & Documentaries, Jul 24th, 2010,
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 damage of the spill will be felt for years to come. The oil has polluted an area of 430 sq km. The first video is a report from Al Jazeera English on cleanup efforts in the Yellow sea around Dalian; the other is…
Tags: China, Chinese, cleanup, Dalian, efforts, oil, pipeline, sea, spill, video, Yellow
Conservation, Videos & Documentaries, Jul 11th, 2010,
Africa’s rhinos are facing a constant threat due to poachers and trophy hunting. The increasing demand for rhino horn used in traditional Chinese medicine – especially in new markets such as Vietnam – is fueling an illegal trade involving corruption and organized crime. In a recent poaching attack in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa, poachers entered a wildlife reserve via helicopter and cut the horns off of a drugged white rhino with a chainsaw. The rhino miraculously survived the brutal attack. From a report in South Africa’s Independent: It appears that the poachers may also have captured the cow’s…
Tags: Africa, brutal, Chinese, endangered, horn, medicine, rhino, rhinos, South
Science & Technology, Wildlife & Flora, May 16th, 2010,
A study in China has shown that cotton genetically modified to fight one pest can result in population explosions of other competing insects. From a Nature News report: In 1997, the Chinese government approved the commercial cultivation of cotton plants genetically modified to produce a toxin from the bacteria Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) that is deadly to the bollworm Helicoverpa armigera. Outbreaks of larvae of the cotton bollworm moth in the early 1990s had hit crop yields and profits, and the pesticides used to control the bollworm damaged the environment and caused thousands of deaths from poisoning each year. Mirid bugs,…
Tags: bugs, China, Chinese, cotton, crop, crops, genetically modified, GM, insecticides, mirid, pest, pests, study
Climate Change, Nature, Wildlife & Flora, Apr 14th, 2010,
There is always a dark cloud hiding somewhere behind every silver lining and unfortunately, this also applies to the recent Great Barrier Reef incident. Although the Chinese vessel was refloated and towed away from the shoal, some oil from the spill still washed up at the well-known North West Island nature sanctuary. This particular sanctuary is a breeding site for hundreds of thousands of seabirds and turtles. Many feared for the safety, health and well-being of these animals on the island, so environmental experts and clean-up crews were immediately sent by helicopter to the site. One major concern at this…
Tags: australia, beach, breeding ground, Chinese, contamination, coral cay, Great Barrier Reef, green turtles, hatching, leak, loggerhead turtles, nature sanctuary, nesting site, North West Island, oil, seabirds, Shen Neng 1, ship, spill, Tyron Island, vessel
Climate Change, Politics, Videos & Documentaries, Mar 28th, 2010,
As China’s economy grows, so does the amount of rubbish it produces – by 10% each year. The Chinese government is struggling to keep up with the consumer society its economic policies have created. The resulting dumps and landfills – both official and illegal – are an ever-increasing blight on the country’s growing metropolitan areas. One way to get rid of the rubbish is by burning it in government incinerators or simply out in the open, but this releases toxic fumes and dangerous pollution. Photojournalist Wang Jiuliang has been documenting the waste problem in and around China’s capital of Beijing…
Tags: Beijing, China, Chinese, dumps, garbage, Guardian, Lianzhou, photo, rubbish, Wang Jiuliang, waste
Climate Change, Green living, Feb 24th, 2010,
![]( "<!--:en-->Can China")
' src='http://gf2.statico.be/wp-content/themes/greenfudge/thumbnails/7707.jpg' alt='can-chinas-farms-cope-with-urbanization-and-pollution' class='art-teaser' width='95' height='95' /> As China continues to rapidly develop and urbanize, increasing pressure is put on the farmland of the Asian superpower. Pollution from toxic factory waste and an inordinate use of nitrogen fertilizers – more than twice the global average – are deteriorating the quality of China’s soil. Expanding urban areas are also diminishing the country’s precious arable land. The percentage of China’s population that live in cities is expected to rise from 47 to 75 percent within the next thirty years. This will require changes in land use, massive construction projects – both private and public – and put a tremendous…
Tags: agricultural, China, Chinese, farms, food, Pollution, population, security, SOIL, urbanization
Nature, Videos & Documentaries, Wildlife & Flora, Feb 22nd, 2010,
![]( "<!--:en-->Preserving Japan")
' src='http://gf1.statico.be/wp-content/themes/greenfudge/thumbnails/7577.jpg' alt='preserving-japans-giant-salamanders' class='art-teaser' width='95' height='95' /> In Japan, the giant salamander – or hanzaki – is a national monument. Children sing its praises and a festival is held in its honor. Unlike most salamanders, which are generally only a couple of inches or a few centimeters in length, the hanzaki can grow to be an enormous 1.5 meters (5 feet) long and weigh as much as 34 kg (80 lbs). This ancient species of giant salamander has barely changed for 20 million years and has a definite prehistoric look to it. But human activity threatens its continued survival. The building of dams and dykes has significantly…
Tags: BBC, Chinese, giant, habitat, hanzaki, human, japan, salamander
Climate Change, Videos & Documentaries, Feb 14th, 2010,
Chinese city streets used to be thronged with virtual seas of cycling commuters. Not so anymore. In fact China has recently surpassed the United States as the largest automobile market. The decline of China’s bicycle-culture has been lamentable, but at least one Chinese city is looking towards the past for solutions for the future. Hangzhou, a sizable city on the China’s east coast, is attempting to balance economic growth and development by implementing a free communal bicycle-sharing program. The bikes resemble many used in free or pay systems in cities around the world. Check out this video report from Al…
Tags: bicycle, bikes, China, Chinese, city, economic, free, Hangzhou, Pollution
Climate Change, Green living, Politics, Feb 12th, 2010,
![]( "<!--:en-->China")
' src='http://gf3.statico.be/wp-content/themes/greenfudge/thumbnails/7322.jpg' alt='chinas-one-child-policy-30-years-on' class='art-teaser' width='95' height='95' /> Since 1979 China has more or less followed a government enforced policy of one child per family. It is a policy which dictates that urban couples are allowed only one child, whereas those in the countryside may have two – so long as the first child is a girl. Ethnic minorities, those with dangerous jobs and couples who give birth to a disabled child are also exceptions. Has China’s radical one child policy – enacted by then chairman of the communist party Deng Xiaoping – been a global disaster or boon? Zhao Baige, vice-minister of National Population and Family Planning…
Tags: birth, child, China, Chinese, co2, emissions, girls, one, one child policy, policy, population
Conservation, Nature, Videos & Documentaries, Wildlife & Flora, Jan 15th, 2010,
2010 is (roughly) the Year of the Golden Tiger according to the Chinese calendar. An article from the Press Association reports that this alone is enough to inspire increased vigilance against tiger poaching in India – and so the South Asian nation is ‘beefing up’ security due to this concern: ‘They fear an increase in the demand for tiger parts and derivatives widely used in Chinese traditional medicine as the new year could fuel the illegal trade of the animal from Indian forests.’ –Press Association Bear’s bile, tiger’s teeth and rhino’s horn are some of the more disturbing ingredients used…
Tags: Chinese, CNN, medicine, rhino, rhino horn, TCM, tiger, traditional, traditional Chinese medicine
