Ways That Are Dark

As the countdown to Beijing 2008 continues , not a week goes by without some griping about the city’s dismal environment. The Olympics only run from Aug. 8-24, but the organizers are discussing the possibility of postponing events if pollution is bad. From the CNN report Beijing schedule changes possible:

“Extensive use of coal, the city’s geographical location and a growing number of motor vehicles means the pace of improvement in Beijing’s air quality is slow,” said Eric Falt, who heads the U.N. Environment Program’s sports and environment project.

Falt said fine particles of pollution that are harmful to human health were “particularly worrying.”

There is nothing new here. Organizers knew all along that pollution in Beijing is the most horrendous in Olympic history. Can things be expected to change in 10 months?

The Washington Post reports on Beijing’s lack of progress in tackling air pollution in the lead up to next summer’s Olympic Games. The complete article is: Gray Wall Dims Hopes of ‘Green’ Games. What is apparent to the naked eye is the air is filthy and hazardous, but government agencies are being secretive about he scientific information they have gathered on the problem.

Beijing does not regularly measure or evaluate some serious pollutants, including ozone and some types of fine particulate matter that can easily be inhaled deep into the lungs. Meanwhile, they have refused to publicly release figures on the amount of pollutants at any given location, such as the Olympic Village or Tiananmen Square, preferring to stick with a citywide average.

China has promised a “green” Olympics, but its failure to divulge what is actually in the host city’s air has alarmed athletes, surprised environmental experts and raised questions about officials’ commitment to making needed changes.

There are still ten months left before the games begin, and a lot can happen in that time. It seems that many athletes have begun to consider contingency plans if the pollution still poses a risk.

Australian athletes have announced they will arrive in Beijing as late as possible because of concerns that the air quality might hinder their performance. Two weeks ago, two Ethiopian middle-distance running champions announced they would forgo some events because of the “disgusting weather and air pollution.” New Zealand and American athletes say they will wear face masks if necessary. Even Jacques Rogge, president of the International Olympic Committee, warned that some endurance sports might be postponed if the pollution gets too bad.

The junta in Myanmar gets rich and stays in power by ignoring environmental laws. The repressive military regime has found stolid friends in neighbors Thailand and China by offering them access to cheap raw materials and energy that feed their growing economies. According to a report by CNN:

Myanmar has become notorious in the region for ignoring international and its own environmental laws in a single-minded effort to make the money that environmentalists say helps keep the regime in power.

About 95 percent of Myanmar’s total timber exports to China are illegal, Global Witness said, costing its treasury $250 million a year. Much of the profits go to Chinese firms as well as regional military commanders and ethnic guerrilla groups, it said.

Read the complete story: In Myanmar, rivers, forests suffer.

Today is Blog Action Day, meaning more than 15,000 bloggers are going to be writing about the environment today.

This past year has been an especially bad one for the environment in China. Hundreds of thousands of people die each year from pollution. And this may just be the tip of the iceberg. This year has also seen the extinction of the rare Yangtze River Dolphin. China’s rapid development is destroying natural habitats and causing the disappearance of countless species. According to The World Conservation Union’s Red List, there are over 385 endangered species in China. With no slowing of China’s steamrolling economy in sight, many more extinctions can be expected.

But the news is not all bad. There is hope. Economic growth does not have to be “at all costs.”

To the south of China lies Viet Nam, a country with a similar economic growth rate. Recently it was reported that eleven new species were discovered in central Viet Nam. Also a socialist state, Viet Nam’s economy is likewise fueled by rapid growth. But the situation in Viet Nam illustrates that a balance can be found.

Any country that runs on the principal of “economic growth at all costs” is being run in a reckless and a short sighted way. The environment is an umbrella under which all aspects of life fall. Without that umbrella, no society can prosper.

In China, cleaning up public perception of the ongoing environment crisis carries more political weight than cleaning up the environment itself. Reporting from Zhoutie, The New York Times writes about the man-made environmental disaster that has befallen Lake Tai. The lake, a major source of drinking water for people living in Shanghai and Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces, is the clearest example of what happens when the fine line between economic growth and dangerous environmental degradation is crossed.

For years, famed “Environmental Warrior” Wu Lihong has single-handedly crusaded to expose the devastating effects of unchecked pollution from nearby chemical factories. Mr Wu’s environmental protests were damaging the areas reputation, and he has been arrested on trumped up political charges.

Lake Tai is rated Grade V by the State Environmental Protection Administration, the lowest level on its scale. In contradiction to this, the city of Yixing, which overseas Zhoutie, has been designated “Model City for Environmental Protection.” Clean up efforts amount to the following:

In 2001, Wen Jiabao, then a vice premier, now China’s prime minister, came to investigate reports of Lake Tai’s deterioration. Like most Communist Party inspection tours, word of this one reached local officials in advance. When Mr. Wen asked to see a typical dye plant, one was made ready, according to several people who witnessed the preparations.

The factory got a fresh coat of paint. The canal that ran beside it was drained, dredged and refilled with fresh water. Shortly before Mr. Wen’s motorcade arrived, workers dumped thousands of carp into the canal. Farmers were positioned along the banks holding fishing rods.

Mr. Wen spent 20 minutes there. A picture of him shaking hands with the factory boss hangs in its lobby.

Read the complete Times article In China, a Lake’s Champion Imperils Himself.

Choking on Growth series of articles

• As China Roars, Pollution Reaches Deadly Extremes
• Beneath Booming Cities, China’s Future Is Drying Up
• In China, a Lake’s Champion Imperils Himself

China already has by most accounts the strictest Internet controls in the world. Its monitoring and filtering techniques have been described as a panopticon and nicknamed The Great Firewall of China. Now according to Reporters Sans Frontieres and the China Human Rights Defenders group, control of the Internet in China is yet again being tightened.

Censorship of the internet in China is becoming more draconian, according to new details of Beijing’s online restrictions published by human rights organisations.

The report also said that the punishments meted out to those who are deemed to have transgressed Beijing’s rules are becoming more drastic.

The complete article in The Guardian is China tightens control of net.

Last week a shocking incident of violence against foreigners in Beijing was perpetrated by the police in an apparent drug sweep. The Guardian writes about it in Beijing police round up and beat African expats.

According to five bystanders, teams of police, dressed in black jumpsuits and reportedly wielding batons and taser guns, cordoned off a street in the popular Sanlitun nightclub district at around midnight and rounded up almost all the black men there. Many of the men were beaten.

The raid took place in front of hundreds of stunned expatriates outside the packed bars and clubs of the neighbourhood, which is popular with Beijing’s burgeoning foreign community.

“I saw a guy being beaten by these kids. He wasn’t doing anything. He wasn’t fighting back,” said one witness, a white American college graduate working in Beijing.

“I have not really ever seen anything so brutal,” said another American. “There was blood on the streets. They were basically beating up any black person they could find.”

Among the victims were at least 20 black men, including students, tourists and the son of a diplomat.

If ever there was a year for China to work on their dismal reputation in the world, it should be this year. Unfortunately this seems to be only the tip of the iceberg. The harsh treatment once reserved for their own people, now seems to be extended to their foreign guests. In addition to the attacks on blacks, all refugees and asylum seekers who have sought safe harbor in China will also be deported or repatriated before next summer’s Olympics. It seems unlikely that attacks on foriegners safety and human rights will abate anytime before the Olympic Games.

Li Heping is a prominent human rights lawyer in China. The New York Times reports in Chinese Lawyer Recounts Abduction  that he was kidnapped and tortured in Beijing on the eve of China’s National Day holiday.

In the telephone interview on Tuesday night, Mr. Li said he was followed after leaving his office late Saturday by a group of men who eventually grabbed him, put a bag over his head and drove him to a location where they beat him in a basement, sometimes tormenting him with a high-powered electric rod.

Later, he said, the abductors drove him to another location in the suburbs of Beijing, where they left him and told him that he and his family ought to leave Beijing immediately.

After being released by his abductors, Mr. Li said he returned home to discover that some of his personal belongings were missing, including legal files and his license to practice law.

In a statement released to a human rights group, Mr. Li said: “As a lawyer, I had the chance to experience electric punishment and torture. I was rolling on the ground and they continued laughing and beating me. This torture lasted about four or five hours.”

The complete article describes Li Heping as a lawyer who has become well known for his defense of environmental activists, imprisoned lawyers and church leaders.

I’ve been following the adventures of Greg and Francie, who are traveling around the world and blogging about it. They spent several months in China and visited numerous places. I was glad that Greg rounded up this part of the journey with an intelligent and thoughtful 5 Things I Loved And hated About China.

Excellent stuff!