China + going green= FAIL

I am not happy with China right now. Actually, I don’t think I ever was really.

TIBET IS NOT YOURS!!! And neither is Taiwan!

China is trying to go green for this summer’s Olympics. They are trying so desperately. As far as I know, China has always had some of the most polluted cities in the world. But nothing was done about it until the Olympics came up.

This is a picture of what I assume Beijing looks like on a regular basis. I’ve seen clips of people riding around in scooters with face masks on in smoggy Beijing. It is really surprising to see people be outside in such horrid air.

Doesn’t China care about their citizens? Why wait until the Olympics to make the air safe for people? Are their green efforts going to even last until AFTER the Olympics? The only reason I am even remotely excited for the Olympics is because I want to see one certain torchbearer. Other than that, China, good luck going green! Or as they say, JIAYOU!

This article in the New York Times says that everyday, monitoring stations across China have to measure air pollution and watch for blue skies day. In the earlier picture, citizens were warned to stay indoors because the air was bad. The day rated at 421, on a scale of 1 being good to 500 being worst.

Of course, people don’t listen especially if they are use to it. What amuses me about the picture is a man is flying a kite. I don’t see blue skies. Overall, I don’t see how life could be possible in that picture yet to Chinese citizens this is normal.

L.A. Times says China is trying to clear up pollution by closing down factories and taking 3 million cars off the road each day. That isn’t enough though. Recently, the Beijing city government has decided to stop construction during the Olympics according to an article on Daily Yomiuri.

I’m not sure if they will actually be able to meet their goal come August 8th, but after the Olympics, the cars will be put back on the streets, construction will start, and factories will open up again.

If it weren’t for the Olympics, the air quality and overall environmental crimes done on their own land will continue.

For example, there is a Chinese company that dumps bubbling white liquid waste in a village.

What is shocking and funny is that the company is supposed to be a green company!!! The “green” company makes polysilicon for solar energy panels to be sold around the world.

According to the article on the Washington Post, stories of environmental pollution are not uncommon.

The government knows bad things are going on yet they continue to turn a blind eye on their citizens.

If this village was anywhere near the foreigners, maybe then they would do something about it. But they are more focused on the Olympics not their people. They don’t want to take any chances on the games not even on the weather.

China wants to make sure it doesn’t rain during the games so they want to seed the clouds. According to National Geographic, “An array of rockets and anti-aircraft guns are used to "seed" clouds with particles to induce rainfall for the country's parched northern region.”

By doing this, they will pull out as much rain before the games so it is dry during the games.

Apparently, during the Vietnam War the U.S. even produced torrential rains on the Ho Chi Minh trail to slow down the opposing side.

Scientists say that human weather modification is done through putting pollutants in the air. So China, we are back to square one, not that you ever left.

"If you have driven your car this morning, you have been cloud seeding because of the particles emitted by your car," said Bruintjes, lead researcher of the Colorado-based National Center for Atmospheric Research's international weather-modification programs.

Good going China! Do you or do you not want to take pollutants out of the air? Although, that quote doesn't make me any better, I did drive.

This is an environmental blog, but since this is my last blog (for now unless I find something interesting to blog about), I will end it off with a music video. It is Beijing Welcomes You, the theme song for the 100 Days Countdown celebration to the Beijing Summer Olympics. It features Jackie Chan, HanGeng (the one percent reason I support the Olympics) and various Chinese stars in various blue and sunny locations in China, quite the opposite from the picture I had above.

FlexibleLove

FlexibleLove is an accordion-like furniture made from recycled materials.
My friend showed me this YT video (Oh, how I love le YouTube). My jaw dropped.



I think this is the coolest thing ever! Then I went onto the FlexibleLove.com website to find out more information.

The furniture is made from recycled paper and wood products. The website says that it is, “…produced using pre-existing manufacturing processes in order to reduce their overall impact on the environment.”

FlexibleLove has a honeycomb structure that can be extended to seat 16 people or collapsed and be put away in a closet.

Flexible is available in FlexibleLove16 or FlexibleLove mini version.

After doing some research, I found out that a Canadian Design team called Molo has made a round brown paper chair and home decorations made from paper. It's all extendable and collapsable. The pictures of their works are very stylish.

Someone has also made similar accordion like chairs out of newspapers and magazines so the concept isn’t exactly new.

Still, it is environmentally friendly. If sold, it will use up all recycled material reducing the carbon footprint.

Insects call each other too.

Well, sort of.

The Environmental News Network has an article entitled Insect use Plants Like a Telephone.

A Dutch ecologist and her colleagues found out that any plant-eating insect can communicate to each other using plants.

Subterranean insects or underground insects emit chemical warning signals using the leaves of plants. When the underground insect does that, aboveground insects are warned that the plant is taken.

Herbivore insects do this to avoid unnecessary competition. Aboveground insects would rather have plants that have not yet been occupied by underground insects which have already eaten the root.

The article says that in recent years it has been found that some aboveground insects have developed slower when they eat plants that have been eaten by an underground insect.

Through this telephone, underground insects can also communicate to parasitic wasps. Aboveground insects are the unfortunate hosts of parasitic wasps who lay eggs inside of them. When signals are emitted from underground insects, it shows wasps where they can find a good host for their egg.

Because the recent studies on insect communication was done in only a few systems, ecologists don’t know how commonly widespread the green telephone is.