Fake Snow in China, Kurt Vonnegut's Brother, Falling Cement and Other Weather-Mod Tales

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 09:08:07 GMT

Flickr/kudumomo Our story on China's earliest snowfall in decades got picked up by Green Patriot Radio, which interviewed me on the ins and outs of the country's extensive rainmaking program. Among the trivia I share: - Rainmaking technology was first developed in the US under Dr. Bernard Vonnegut, the brother of author Kurt. - The Russian air force tried seeding clouds above Moscow with bags of cement on Jun 17, 2008. One of the bags did not pulverize and crashed through the roof of a house. While the environmental health implications of artificial weather-making have not yet been shown to be detrimental, the snowfall in Beijing had one obvious drawback: thousands of passengers stranded at the airport that night who might have been told by their government to stay home. Beijing made more "fake" snow last week. Listen to my interview, about a quarter of the way in here.... Read the full story on TreeHugger

US and China: Goodbye Clean Coal, Ni Hao, "21st Century Coal"

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 14:09:42 GMT

Proposed GreenGen IGCC coal plant in Tianjin, China The US-China duck pancake of climate cooperation, made this week by Presidents Obama and Hu, has left us with much to chew over. But the component that everyone was waiting for -- and that few could be surprised about -- was the announcement on coal. No effort at cleaning the air or reducing CO2 will matter without really addressing the black stuff. So the two countries announced a "21st century coal" initiative, "a program of technical cooperation to bring teams of U.S. and Chinese scientists and engineers together in developing clean coal and carbon capture and storage technologies." But what does this vision of "21st century coal" really mean, given the big conundrum of carbon capture -- and what's the Chinese translation?... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Chinese Traffic Cop's Funny Lecture on Helmet Safety (Video)

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 10:35:52 GMT

Flickr/BeijingPatrol When Beijing Policeman Tan, the star of his very own local news segment, stops a motorcyclist because his passenger isn't wearing his helmet, we get an earful on gender norms, hairstyles, and one of our favorite topics -- helmets! See the video below.... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Gorbachev's Green Joke: "Bad Case of the Humans"

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 09:28:44 GMT

Stop me if you've heard this one: during his opening remarks at the 10th Annual Sustainable Design Awards last night, Global Green's president Matt Peterson shared a joke that his boss and Global Green's founder, former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, had once told him, possibly over a glass of whiskey...... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Global Green, Celebrities, Toast Cooper Union, PG&E, Sebastian Copeland and Others at Design Awards

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:19:52 GMT

Global Green Award Winners: Dr. George Campbell Jr., Mindy Lubber, Peter Darbee, Matt Petersen, Bonnie Reiss, and Sebastian Copeland "Mr. Obama -- Tear down this carbon!" news presenter Miles O'Brien demanded in his speech at the Global Green Sustainable Design Awards last night in New York City, before an audience of benefactors and green luminaries. His reference to Reagan's famous call to Gorbachev, a few years before the latter would help usher the collapse of the Berlin Wall wasn't just timely, but poignant too. Gorbachev would go on to found Green Cross and Global Green USA, a celebrity-heavy organization that has most recently led green reconstruction efforts in New Orleans. See photos of the winners and attendees below, including designer Nicole Miller, actor Brian Cox and architect Thom Mayne.... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Rebuilding a Green New Orleans: An Interview with Matt Petersen, President of Global Green USA (Part 1)

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 13:59:04 GMT

"This wasn't just folks with a bunch of good ideas and a Hollywood star" Global Green USA, a charity founded in 1993 by Mikhail Gorbachev, may be best known for its initiatives with celebrities like Leonardo di Caprio. But far from the glare of Hollywood, the group has done some of its most important work in New Orleans. Shortly after Hurricane Katrina, Global Green began rebuilding a community meant not only to improve the lives of residents but to inspire other green construction around the country. The group's sustainable Holy Cross Project, the product of a design competition with a jury chaired by Brad Pitt, consists of five single-family homes and an 18-unit apartment building; three homes have been finished so far, including one that is serving as a de facto visitors center. In the first installment of our interview with Matt Petersen, president of Global Green, we hear about the group's impact in New Orleans, and New Orleans' impact on Global Green's sustainable community work elsewhere.... Read the full story on TreeHugger

The Newest, Shiniest Metros in the World (A Slideshow)

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 09:57:11 GMT

While subways in the world's developed countries are starting to look like the dinosaurs of urban infrastructure (with expansion delays and budget crises to boot), new metro systems continue to spread across the world. As emerging cities seek to answer the needs of booming populations -- or ease the traffic and environmental strains of private cars -- 11 municipalities have opened new underground and light-rail lines in the past two years. And instead of putting the damper on expansion projects, the global economic crisis has actually promised to spur further investment in public transit by governments eager to stimulate their economies. Over the next decade, some of these groundbreaking lines will become part of large metro networks that promise to make the world's reigning metro champions look downright ancient. ... Read the full story on TreeHugger

The World's Brand-Spanking Newest Metro Systems

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 09:17:12 GMT

Dubai Metro One of the latest toys in Dubai's futuristic sandbox is also the first urban train network in the Arabian Peninsula, and an essential addition to the city's public infrastructure. After the first section of the Red Line opened at 9:09:09 PM on September 9, 2009, more than 110,000 people, or nearly 10 per cent of Dubai's population, used the Metro in its first two days of operation. It features VIP carriges as well as dedicated women only cars, with some lavish station designs and, needless to say, ample air conditioning.

Wikimedia Commons

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China Wants to Take "a Leadership Role" On Climate: An Interview with WWF's Yang Fuqiang, Part 2

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 12:35:42 GMT

When it comes to China's efforts to curtail greenhouse gases, Dr. Yang Fuqiang, director of global climate solutions at the World Wildlife Fund, has an optimal vantage point. He began his career as a researcher at the National Development and Reform Commission, the Chinese government's main economic planner, before continuing in the realm of energy and the environment. We spoke with him recently in Beijing, a few weeks before President Obama's upcoming visit. This is the second part of our interview; also see the first part of our interview, about US-China collaboration. TreeHugger: What's the best way China can address its carbon emissions in the short term? Yang Fuqiang: They have two chances. One is Obama. Maybe China will give him some gift. The second chance is Copenhagen. China might say we have our binding targets for our emissions domestically, but not internationally. ... Read the full story on TreeHugger

This Week at GOOD: Pop-Up Education, Emerging Cities Innovations, a Murder Map

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:30:27 GMT

A quick round-up from our pals at GOOD: We began the week by applauding the monumental, grassroots climate-action events mobilized by 350.org, receiving a lovely email from Paris, and viewing another Brooklyn on a wall. We learned how technology can ease traffic, that pop-up education can really inform, and in which countries murder is most and least prevalent.... Read the full story on TreeHugger

China, U.S., and Climate: An Interview with Yang Fuqiang, WWF's Director of Global Climate Solutions

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 10:20:59 GMT

On Climate Change, "China has to say, this is my problem, and my solution" For more than two decades, Dr. Yang Fuqiang has been a participant in the energy and climate change discussion in and around China. His career began as a researcher at the National Development and Reform Commission, the Chinese government's main economic planner, and continued for three decades in the realm of energy and the environment. Formerly head of the Energy Foundation's China office, he is now director of global climate solutions at the World Wildlife Foundation. We spoke with him recently in Beijing, before he left for the Barcelona round of climate talks. Look for the second half of our interview, about China's domestic efforts to tackle climate change, later this week. TreeHugger: President Obama comes to China this month. What kind of impact do you think his visit will have on climate change policy between the two countries? Yang Fuqiang: The question is will the Chinese government give him a gift. Because Obama has to give the Congress, the Senators, a sense of what China is doing, and what China is doing can boost Congress to move forward. ... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Beijing Blanketed by Freak Government-Made Snow

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 13:45:12 GMT

Flickr/Claire Evans When we awoke on Sunday, we were shocked to find Beijing draped in snow. It was a gorgeous white Halloween, and the earliest snowfall in a decade -- the result in part of an unusually strong cold front that had a few of us thinking of Copenhagen (and not just because of the Danish capital's weather). The snow was also the work of the government's weather guns. ... Read the full story on TreeHugger

China's Climate Red Phone Has Two Lines: U.S. and Developing World

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 12:00:17 GMT

Who They Gonna Call? Last week, before hundreds of students and others gathered to call for government action on climate change, Beijing officials were busy talking with its two biggest climate interlocutors: India and the United States. They weren't all talking together though. As the last round of climate talks before Copenhagen begin in Barcelona , China is playing a careful game of climate diplomacy with the U.S. and developing countries. How Beijing, the de facto lead representative of the developing nations -- and the world's biggest carbon emitter -- will balance both lines of demands is one of the biggest questions leading up to Copenhagen.... Read the full story on TreeHugger

"Chinese" Wind Farm in Texas: Green Jobs FAIL?

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 06:45:25 GMT

photo: Chrishna via flickr The buzz around the green blogosphere today is another record-setting Chinese wind farm, with 240 turbines producing 648 megawatts. But this one isn't in Inner Mongolia -- it's in Texas. This $1.5 billion wind farm -- a US-China joint venture paid for in part by Chinese banks -- will be built not with turbines from usual suspects GE or Vestas, but with Chinese-made machines from a year-old company called A-Power. Needless to say, most of the project's green jobs will be created in China. And don't shoot the messenger, but it's hoping to secure 30 percent, or $450 million, of its financing from, yes, U.S. stimulus funds. Someone better turn on those spin machines right about now.... Read the full story on TreeHugger

This Week at GOOD: Dispatches from the Alliance of Youth Movement Summit, Biofuels Fact and Fiction, and Your Daily Water Use

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 10:10:10 GMT

The latest from our GOOD friends: On Monday, we learned about an Atlanta museum dedicated to an exploration of the sometimes divisive and abstract concept of patriotism. We got thoroughly punked by the Yes Men, who held a mock news conference (as they are want to do) at the Chamber of Commerce.... Read the full story on TreeHugger

The World's DIY Hero: An Interview With William Kamkwamba, Windmill Wunderkind

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 13:58:26 GMT

"The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind" To most of us, old bicycle parts are mostly good for DIY furniture projects if they're good for anything, and windmills are best designed by people with advanced degrees. When fourteen-year-old William Kamkwamba, of Masitala Village in Wimbe, Malawi, stumbled across the image of a windmill for the first time while pouring over a library book, he wasn't thinking like that. He was thinking of his village's lack of electricity (only 2% of Malawi is electrified) and of how electricity could power an irrigation pump, which would help his family and others cope with meager crops. If you've been reading TreeHugger, or any news really, you probably know what happened next...... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Best of The Infrastructurist: Flammable Tap Water, Floating Airports, and the Hanging Gardens of Barcelona

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 15:47:39 GMT

Our pals at the indispensable built environment site The Infrastructurist sent over a round-up of some of the best recent posts: Crazy or Brilliant? A Plan To Build A Giant Floating Airport Off California Coast San Diego desperately needs a new airport. Problem is, there's really nowhere to put it. So a local entrepreneur is trying to build a three square mile floating platform out in the Pacific. He's envisioning the $20 billion project as a model for green offshore infrastructure--which just might become a major new industry in the 21st century.... Read the full story on TreeHugger

With Words, Hip Hop and Hundreds of Bicycles, Beijing's Youth Call for Climate Action

Sun, 25 Oct 2009 07:45:02 GMT

The resounding call for climate action that capped a series of talks in Beijing this week between the US and China didn't come from top officials, but from a more unusual constituent: young Beijingers. The city's celebration of the 350.org International Day of Climate Action began, appropriately, with a parade of bicycles. A sharp contrast to the city's big National Day parade on October 1st, the band of hundreds of young citizens, expats and NGO workers climbed on their two-wheelers -- and in some cases, one-wheelers -- and plied their way through the center of the city to a carnival at the Natural History Museum. ... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Edward Burtynsky's Devastating "Oil" (A Slideshow)

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 10:30:01 GMT

A landscape photograph by Edward Burynsky can be as frozen as it is arresting. But stare at his portraits of China's Three Gorges Dam or the Alberta tar sands, and you can almost make out Earth in motion. In his massive prints, the built and natural environments slam into each other like tectonic plates, driven by a global economy hurtling forward at full steam. Even if there's little actual oil to be seen in his latest project, the Canadian photographer and Worldchanging partner still offers a stunning portrait of how this fast-depleting resource rules our world. Alongside a new book published by Steidl, an exhibition of "Oil" is on view at Corcoran Gallery in Washington, DC, and at New York's Hasted Hunt Kraeutler. ... Read the full story on TreeHugger

New York Subway Boss Wants Fares To Be Like Cell Phone Calls

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 09:45:50 GMT

Flickr/Moriza How Congestion Pricing Makes Cents There's a state budget crisis that could bring big service cuts or more fare hikes, but Jay Walder is making big plans. The new chairman of New York City's MTA, formerly of the London Underground, wants to introduce smart cards, arrival-time clocks at subway stations and GPS devices that would allow passengers to keep track of buses. But his real breakthrough would be a lower off-peak fare that could nudge more New Yorkers onto the subway on nights and weekends, and lessen the crush at rush hour. "We have an infrastructure that is set for the capacity of the peak," Walder tells The Times. "What we really want to do is use that infrastructure all the time." The idea makes sense in a downturn. If higher unemployment means more flexible commuting schedules, more New Yorkers -- and the subway -- may benefit.... Read the full story on TreeHugger

The Best of GOOD: Re-Reconsidering the Lobster, the Green Job Boom, and the Most Bike-Loving Cities

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 07:00:45 GMT

Just in: this dispatch from our counterparts at one of our favorite sites. GOODy! We kicked off the week with the second half of our discussion of design and branding in social ventures (yep, it's that important, it needs two parts). The main takeaway: know your audience, or all the good design in the world won't help you. We followed that with a look at a new online sharing organization in Los Angeles. It's like Craigslist meets Free Cycle, but with better presentation (and more credibility). They plan to expand to other test markets soon.... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Edward Burtynsky's "Oil"

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 06:31:47 GMT

Trucker's Jamboree, Walcott, Iowa, USA, 2003. In "Oil," Edward Burtynsky's latest series of landscape photographs, there's nary a drop of the black stuff to be found. Yet he still offers a stunning portrait of how this fast-depleting resource rules our world. Take the Trucker's Jamboree. Held for two days every summer at the world's largest truckstop in Walcott, Iowa, it's a celebration of "the millions of truck drivers that deliver the goods we consume, whether it's groceries, gas, clothes or cars -- you can bet it was delivered by a truck." The oil that fuels those trucks -- and helps to manufacture almost everything they carry -- is not just helping to fuel a global rise in temperatures. It also pays dividends to terrorist groups and weakens America's energy security. Whether, after years of roller-coaster prices, the world has reached peak oil or not, the consensus now is that we need to find ways of weaning ourselves off of it, and fast. Otherwise, no one, especially not truckers, may have much cause for celebration. Alongside a new book, an exhibition of "Oil" is on view at Corcoran Gallery in Washington, DC, and at New York's Hasted Hunt Kraeutler. If you can, go -- only Burtynsky's mammoth prints really do justice to his subjects. Also see Tom Friedman's "Addicted to Oil" at Discovery Video, and "Forget About Cars for a Minute: 11 Heavy Duty Green Trucks"

Edward Burtynsky /Courtesy HASTD HUNT KRAEUTLER, New York / Nicholas Metivier Gallery, Toronto

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How Beijing Cleans Its Air, and Fakes It Too

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 09:35:06 GMT

As savvy moves by officials in China are pushing its state-run English-language news outlets to start sounding a bit more like their Western counterparts, did a New York Times article over the weekend about improvements to air quality in Beijing bear echoes of state-run media? The good news, fortunately, is mostly true. The pressure of being an Olympics host has brought definite improvements by the government, like moving factories and ratcheting up emissions standards -- efforts that, the Times notes, "some environmentalists in developed nations, pitted against industry lobbyists and balky political machinery, can only envy." (Also possibly at work is the country's economic slowdown, which has helped bring nationwide pollutant emissions down temporarily.) But even amidst advances, there can be an especially big difference in Beijing between between what seems and what is, between the measurement of one particulate and a survey of the entire sky.... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Columbia Suspends Environmental Journalism Program, and Malcolm Gladwell Is Okay With That

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 19:35:13 GMT

Flickr/Checco Emissions aren't the only thing being cut by the recession. On the same day that the Times axes 100 newsroom staff, Columbia University's prestigious journalism school announces that it will be suspending its 14-year-old enviornmental journalism masters program amidst a media-wide financial crisis. This sounds like bad news for everyone, at a time when the public clamors for and deserves more and better information on environmental science, health and policy. Then again, paying $89,000 for two years of education that may not land you a job doesn't exactly sound sustainable, if you will.... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Chinese Town's Response to Poisonous Lead Factory: Move the Town

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 09:30:06 GMT

Increasingly, concern over environmental health in cities and towns across China has led to angry public protests that have halted construction on or closed a number of factories. But after outrage over lead poisoning in a town in central China, authorities aren't turning off the smelters at fault. They're moving the whole town. The mayor of Jiyuan in Henan province -- home to the world's second-largest lead smelter -- said the relocation of 15,000 residents would cost one billion yuan (146 million dollars), 70 percent of which would be borne by the local government and the smelters responsible for the lead poisoning, while local residents would foot the rest of the bill, Xinhua reported. After a string of poison scandals across the country involving thousands of sick children have exposed the inability of officials to shut down polluters, this may actually be the best solution yet. ... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Carbon Capture Is "Essential" for Developing World, And Still a Pipe Dream

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 09:36:36 GMT

Proposed GreenGen IGCC coal plant in Tianjin, China Unproven and Expensive Here's a climate conundrum. Last week, the International Energy Agency said in a report (pdf) that to avoid climate catastrophe, 2,000 carbon capture and sequestration (CSS, or sometimes "clean coal") plants need to be built in developing countries by 2050. And fortunately, it turns out that China, the biggest coal burner, is a great place to bury greenhouse gases. "Study Says China Is Ripe for Carbon Storage," is the headline of the Green Inc story. The study by the US Dept. of Energy says China's rich geology is conducive to carbon storage, and puts the cost of transportation and storage at $2 to $8 per ton, or half the estimated cost in the U.S. Of course, burying huge amounts of carbon dioxide is easier when you don't have to face European-style regulations or citizens concerned about poisonous leakages or explosions. And then there's the price tag.... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Multinational Companies Are Breaking China's "Most Basic" Pollution Law

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 08:37:48 GMT

Top multinational and Chinese companies are not reporting what pollutants they are releasing into China's air and water, as a new law requires, according to a report by Greenpeace. Among the eighteen companies cited were eight of the world's top 500 companies -- Shell, Samsung Electronics, Nestle, LG, Kraft, Motorola, Denso and Bridgestone -- and 10 major Chinese companies, including industry leaders such as PetroChina and Shenhua.... Read the full story on TreeHugger

The Best of GOOD: the Awesome GOOD 100, Hope for Copenhagen, and Abandoned Gas Stations

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 15:12:30 GMT

What our GOOD friends have been up to this past week... We continue to roll out the GOOD 100 (entries will be posted daily through October 22), our annual list of the people, projects, and ideas moving the world forward. Included this week were Dead Aid author Dambisa Moyo, San Francisco conceptual artist Jonathan Keats, and a woman who is secretly storing thousands of pounds of human waste (for gardening purposes, of course).... Read the full story on TreeHugger

World's First Drive-Through Museum Coming to China

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 11:30:56 GMT

From the Just What We Needed Dept. Combining China's growing enthusiasm for private museums with its increasing appetite for driving, the new Nanjing Automobile Museum is set to be the world's first drive-through museum. Visitors drive their cars around the building's angular origami-like spiral to the roof, where they park and continue by descending through the building's exhibits on foot. When they get to the bottom, an elevator shuttles them back up to their waiting cars. Why didn't someone think of this sooner?... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Post-Bangkok Q&A with Antonio Hill, Oxfam's Climate Envoy: We Need a "Major Turnaround"

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 10:28:43 GMT

Civil societies protested in front of the UN conference center in Bangkok, demanding rich nations to step up efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Photo credit: Mongkhonsavat Luengvorapant/Oxfam. By the time climate talks in Bangkok wrapped up last week, developing nations hadn't only accused the world's richest (Annex I) countries of sabotaging the framework for a serious climate treaty in Copenhagen: they had put them on (mock) trial too. With less than 60 days to go before the big Copenhagen conference, I asked Antonio Hill, Oxfam's climate representative, for his inside take on the tensions at Bangkok and the potential for a real deal. Developing countries (G77/China) say they have written proof that rich countries are attempting to derail climate talks. What kind of proof are we talking about? They are referring to a collection of textual proposals that featured in "non-papers." These are proposed or draft texts that are pulled together by the Chair and facilitators of different subgroups and negotiating strands on the basis of interventions and consultations with governments...... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Recent Posts by TreeHugger's Alex Pasternack, New York, NY