Rachel Wasser
Latest Stories from Rachel Wasser
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In China, Hold the Cell Phone for Environmental Activism
A little text message can go a long way, it seems - especially if it's sent a million times. On Wednesday, the Chinese city of Xiamen announced that it was putting plans for a highly polluting petrochemical plant on hold. These are not minor plans: the
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China's Environment Getting Worse... Before It Gets Better?
Bad news from China last week. According to the State Environmental Protection Administration's (SEPA) first quarter report, pollution is worsening in many parts of the country. After checking out this post, you probably won't be surprised to hear
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Dude! Where Can I Park My Car in China?
Look at the photo above, and you'll see just a few of China's 11.5 million private cars. (That 2006 number represents a one-third jump from 2005 levels.) Take a closer look, and you should be able to discern cars parked on sidewalks. And if you look
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More On China's Troubled Waters
We don't want to beat a dying river, here, but how is it that China's natural waters end up looking like Gatorade? Taken on March 22nd, this photo of industrial waste from a textile dyeing factory draining into the Yangtze is a partial answer. The
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China Goes Car-Free - For A Day
Good news for anyone struggling to breathe China's urban air! You can look forward to next September 22nd, when for a day the Middle Kingdom will put the brakes on its love affair with the automobile. For the first time, the national government is
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China's Coal Industry: The Waste Has Us Gasping
Turns out China's coal dependence not only fouls skies and waters at home and abroad, leads to deaths and injuries in mines, and pushes China ever closer to the World's #1 Greenhouse Gas Emitter spot - it's also
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Journalists, Report! China Urges Media Supervision of Energy Consumption
Last year, China failed to meet ambitious national targets for reducing pollution and energy consumption. This year, the central government is calling on state media to serve as watchdogs on these issues, "assist[ing] the authorities' efforts to
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Beijing Green Drinks Returns, We Rejoice
TreeHugger loves Green Drinks, and we are excited to report that Beijing loves them, too! The first ever Beijing Green Drinks, held last month, was a resounding success. More than 100 people showed up to rock the Stone Boat Bar with green-tinted talk,
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Big Bad News? China's Oil Discovery
The China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), China's leading offshore oil producer, announced recently that it had made the nation's largest oil find in a decade. They've hit a jackpot: the new domestic source apparently has reserves of about
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Restocking the Polluted Yangtze: Fishy?
The panda might be more charismatic - heck, even its poo is popular - but surely the Chinese sturgeon also deserves its place in the sun. Or, rather, in the dank, irreversibly polluted water of the Yangtze. Last week this massive river, source of 35%
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Isn't It Ironic? China Calls For Citizen Activism, Detains Environmentalist
Today's big China environment story is an exciting one. While announcing new transparency rules, our favorite Chinese environmental official called for greater citizen involvement to curb the country's powerful polluters.
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China: Make My Appliance Energy Efficient, Please
Summer's on its way, along with lazy days, melting ice cream, and that perennial favorite - air conditioning. In China, air conditioner sales are expected to hit 25 million units this year, "bringing tremendous pressure to bear on the nation's already
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Beijing Rocks Earth Day: Big Messages, Big Country, One Little Day
Earth Day is cause for debate in some locales, but this treehugger posits that in the developing world it's still cause for celebration. In a country like China, where government tends to determine the way forward and an expanding middle class is just
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China Cracks Down On "Extravagant" Government Buildings
Apparently, the Chinese people are tired of government funds being spent on official public building McMansion equivalents. In response to the many complaints incurred by "luxurious" government structures - and to central government concerns about local
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Indian Environmentalist Calls US on Climate Change Blame Game
The blame game can be fun when you're playing with your sibling or your significant other. But nobody wins when big greenhouse gas emitting countries play the climate change blame game. Last week, a well-known Indian environmentalist accused the US of
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Geothermal in China: It's Getting Hot in Here
While the Bush administration has dropped geothermal energy like a hot potato (to the chagrin of American environmentalists), China's program is picking up steam. Last week, TIME Magazine reported on an "ancient Chinese city [that] might just have
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Green Drinks Comes to Beijing Tuesday
Exciting news for treehuggers in the Chinese capital - Green Drinks is coming to Beijing, and just in time for spring! We've been a fan of Green Drinks for over two years, and since Jacob put out the call and started up a "chapter" in Nashville,
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Beijing Olympians Urged to "Go For Energy Gold": WWF Endorses Carbon Offsets
The WWF has stepped in the middle of the ongoing controversy about carbon offsets, providing new fodder for TreeHugger's healthy, keeping-it-huggy debate on the subject. (See Wikipedia for a primer, and check out Mike's recent cautiously
