Home/Posts Tagged ‘Western’
Posts Tagged ‘Western’
Health, Aug 17th, 2010,
The diet of the West, high in animal products, fat, salt and sugar, is increasingly associated with wealth and development. The growing middle and upper classes in China are causing meat consumption to skyrocket in that country. Those with more disposable income in characteristically poor places buy more imported, packaged and processed foods, which all tend to be higher in salt, sugar and fat. Meat becomes more of a staple than a luxury. In contrast, the poor of the developing world generally eat traditional diets that are high in fruit and vegetables. In the West it’s the opposite. The cheapest…
Tags: Africa, allergies, bacteria, children, developing, diet, disease, European, fat, food, guy, heath, meat, microbial, poor, rich, salt, study, sugar, vegetables, Western
Politics, Aug 14th, 2010,
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
Climate Change, Nature, Politics, May 27th, 2010,
The Chinese government is adopting an incentives scheme to preserve the Asian giant’s fragile forests and biodiversity. According to the new legislation, wealthy urbanized regions in China will be obliged to compensate areas that preserve their natural riches, notably forests that sequester carbon. This figure – which takes into account carbon sequestration, water conservation, biodiversity protection and biomass production – suggests the administration is seeking not just a new set of values, but a new role for itself now that the nation’s forests are logged out and 2,000 species reportedly threatened with extinction. –Jonathan Watts in the Guardian Putting a…
Tags: Beijing, biodiversity, China, forests, Guardian, Hippopotamus, preserve, Western, zoo
Uncategorized, Apr 14th, 2010,
A series of earthquakes – the largest having a magnitude of 6.9 – struck a Tibetan region of western China today, killing at least 400 people according to an AP report. A further 10,000 were injured as houses collapsed and many remained trapped under fallen buildings – particularly schools – in Qinghai province. From a Wall Street Journal report: The quake hit shortly before 8 a.m. local time Wednesday, jolting Yushu prefecture, part of the Chinese province of Qinghai near the edge of the Tibetan plateau. About 97% of the population in Yushu is ethnically Tibetan. Many earn their living…
Tags: 400, China, dead, earthquake, earthquakes, Qinghai, Tibetan, Western
Climate Change, Politics, Mar 11th, 2010,
China’s soaring greenhouse gas emissions are significantly fueled by Western consumerism. That is the conclusion of a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). According to an article in Time magazine, ’22.5% of the carbon emitted in China is actually exported to other countries’. So in a way, unofficial ‘carbon markets’ are already well in place – with China creating more emissions by manufacturing products for export to richer, more developed nations. The rich nations effectively outsource their own greenhouse emissions via having China or other developing countries make their cars, toys and clothes,…
Tags: carbon, China, Economist, emissions, Europe, export, footprint, greenhouse, magazine, Time, trade, U.S., Western
Climate Change, Wildlife & Flora, Mar 2nd, 2010,
A wildfire is currently raging in Western Australia, some 170 miles (275 km) north of the state capital, Perth. Though the area is mostly farmland and not densely populated, Australian Fire Emergency Services have urged residents to leave the area with ‘survival kits’ in tow. According to a Press Association report on the situation in Western Australia, wildfires are a common threat during hot Australian summers and this summer is particularly blazing, with Tuesday’s temperature predicted to hit 41 C (106 F). Last year, 173 people were killed and more than 2,000 homes destroyed in one day as hundreds of…
Tags: australia, fire, forest, logged, logging, Western, wildfires
