Inhale Deeply, Then Think of Clean Air
Posted July 21, 2008 in The Media and the Environment
On NPR’s Marketplace, Timothy Hui addresses Beijing’s hope for improving air quality in time for the Olympics… Marking the success of NRDC’s Wolves in Danger campaign, USA Today reports in their On Deadline blog that gray wolves in Montana have been returned to the endangered species list after being prematurely removed five months ago… Jim Presswood urges Americans to break their addiction to oil on CNNMoney.com, explaining that the amount Americans could save from vehicle fuel efficiency dwarfs what might be found in Alaskan oil reserves…
In the LA Times, sr. attorney Alex Wang hopes aloud that pollution cutbacks in Beijing made for the Olympics will “spur added investment for the long term”…
And in The Times (UK) Alex sagely observes that “It is crucial that after the Olympics are done and gone, China keeps its eyes on the prize and invests even more in the environment, not just in Beijing but across all of China”… In the LA Times, NRDC's Mid-West office Director Henry Henderson warns that coal is not something the world can risk getting wrong, cautioning that unchecked coal use could lead to “many, many other things going wrong,” even disrupting the course of civilization as we know it… In the Missoulian Louisa Willcox discusses the role polite diplomacy plays in current discussions with Canada regarding the risk of Canadian mining pollution seeping into Montana’s waterways.
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Comments
Dan Troutman — Jul 21 2008 03:40 PM
Yeah, right. How much do you wanna bet that after the Olympics are done, Beijing immediately restarts factories to try to make up for lost production and allows all of the cars back on the roads? (I've got some ocean-front property in Arizona if you don't think so!:) )
As the world's biggest CO2 emitting nation with a new dirty coal power plant coming on line every 10 days, CHINA is putting economic growth first and the environment last.
So, is the NRDC going to move its headquarters to Beijing so they can be where the pollution problem is? :)
Alex Wang — Jul 21 2008 08:11 PM
Dan, the car removal measures and factory slow-/shut-downs are being announced explicitly as temporary measures (so I will not take you up on that bet!). Some moves, such as the re-siting of the big steel plant NW of Beijing, will for sure be permanent, but the media focus on Beijing air during the Olympics obscures the larger point, which is that regardless of what happens during those two weeks in August tremendous efforts will still need to be put into environmental protection well after the memories of the Olympics are fading into the past.
You mention having an office in Beijing. NRDC has in fact had an office and a significant presence in Beijing for several years now. Our staff in China is working hard on some of the key solutions to climate change (energy efficiency, green buildings, advanced energy technologies), better environmental governance, public participation, green supply chain issues, and a host of other issues that are critical to an improved environmental situation in China and for the world.
Dan Troutman — Jul 22 2008 12:14 AM
I wouldn't envy working in your Beijing office. Keep up the good work!