Eric Young's Blog: Curbing Pollution tag:switchboard.nrdc.org,2009:/blogs/eyoung//87 2008-01-13T12:19:00Z Movable Type Enterprise 1.52 Bad Air: Some Photos from Beijing tag:switchboard.nrdc.org,2008:/blogs/eyoung//87.877 2008-01-09T16:35:24Z 2008-01-13T12:19:00Z Eric Young Well, what can I say about my trip to a ‘developing’ country with a culture over 5,000 years old? It was one of the most rewarding trips I have ever taken but to say it was fun in would be overstating it. Fascinating yes, fun for the time I was talking to NRDC staff, absolutely, the rest of the time, I am not so sure.

This first blog post has to be about air quality. First, I was preoccupied with it and second, it will have serious implications for next summer when China has its coming out party to the rest of the world in the form of the summer Olympics. The air quality is as bad as others (such as the media, people who have visited China, statistics from the World Health Organization) led me to believe. I did not have a coughing fit from being there (my cough came from water skiing behind a two-stroke engine in Bali) but once I looked out my hotel room window during the first morning I was shocked by what I saw. I could only see about six blocks in any direction (pictures from NRDC office very close to hotel are below). It was not until I left the next day and traveled across the city that I realized how much I was missing. The city sprawls forever but I could not tell. In any case, I noticed right away that there was something seriously ‘wrong’ with the air in Beijing.

I placed the word ‘wrong’ in quotes because while it is a priority to clear the air in Beijing, it is dwarfed by the goal of economic development. Causing dangerous air quality in order to grow the economy is a trade-off China is more than willing to make. Trade-offs with the goal of achieving balance between competing interests are common  in environmental decision-making, but it is not often that one can literally see the results of a trade-off from a hotel balcony.

As bad as I thought the air was, it was better than it was just five days later when my colleague Erik Laaken was in Beijing.

Here is a picture from my trip. Visibility is okay. I was a little bit surprised but it reminded me of pictures of Los Angeles in the 1960s. 




My experience with air quality paled (literally) in comparison to my colleague, Eric Laaken (also with NRDC). This picture was taken just five days after I left. This picture was taken at 4:30. Sunset in Beijing does not take place until around 6pm.



I am interested to see what the Chinese government will do to clean this up in time for the Olympics. If they are unsuccessful, I hope they can hold the marathon outside city limits.

]]> Blogging in Bali tag:switchboard.nrdc.org,2007:/blogs/eyoung//87.785 2007-12-03T14:34:07Z 2008-01-01T17:18:26Z Arrived after ?? hours of travel. It was across so many time zones it is difficult to say. I left my apartment at 4:20pm on Thursday, November 29 and I dropped my bags in my room at around 2:00pm on... Eric Young Arrived after ?? hours of travel. It was across so many time zones it is difficult to say. I left my apartment at 4:20pm on Thursday, November 29 and I dropped my bags in my room at around 2:00pm on Saturday Dec. 1. The length of the travel time and distance covered along with the culture shock I experienced (which deserves its own entry) is a fitting reminder of how different the atmosphere is in Bali.

Attending the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of the Parties (COP) 13, are approx. 10,000 people from over 190 countries from governments, businesses, non-governmental organizations, media. A vast majority of the attendees are committed to taking the ambitious steps necessary to prevent the worst impacts of global warming. When I say vast majority, I mean everyone except the Bush administration. Yes, their rhetoric has changed slightly, but their actions have not. I am surrounded by representatives from countries who have ratified the protocol, are implementing policies to meet the standards and are figuring out what the next step is after Kyoto expires at the end of 2012.This is in stark contrast to working 3 blocks from the White House and in a city that is home to the most strident climate deniers and delayers. Needless to say, I like this setting better. J

After registering with the UN and I received my credentials - complete with a picture of me from two years ago when I attended the Montreal COP – it was time to scope out the conference and media center. My NRDC colleague Melanie Nakagawa and Alden Meyer from the Union of Concerned Scientists, went to the media center and were pleasantly surprised to find reporters from the Associated Press, Reuters, the Christian Science Monitor, just to name a few.

The media presence in Bali is off the charts. At the Montreal COP in 2005, the AP went through a reporter or two before they sent in veteran Charles Hanley. Reporters from prominent papers did not arrive until the second week and it was iffy if they were going to attend at all. Now the AP has about five people here for the full two weeks and Reuters has someone who will focus on just side events. Now before you roll your eyes, I have already investigated and I can confirm that the reporters are here because global warming is a top tier issue outlets feel they must cover. They are not here because Bali is one of the nicest places on earth. Global warming is an issue we cannot afford to ignore any longer and the media presence here for both weeks reflects that.

All of the talk about the media brings me to the essential question “What does success at this meeting look like?” This meeting will be successful if the countries gathered agree to launch comprehensive negotiations on the post 2012 regime. We have the solutions available to us in the form of energy efficiency and clean energy of various kinds. The world needs to see that we are moving past Kyoto and laying out the next set of actions necessary to prevent the worst impacts of global warming. Given that there is only a small group of people here that have come to delay and distort, I am optimistic.

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