Typically, when speaking about sustainability, I preface my thoughts on the issue that my definition is not simply one that is based in environment. That in addition to the environmental issues faced, we must also look at how we align economies and societies to be more sustainable as well. In China, this definition tends to provide a level of tangibility that many are seeking as they look for a "…
As part of the 8th Europe Asia Young Leaders Forum, I was asked to present my thoughts on two questions: How do cities organize communal life and maintain social harmony? What can business contribute to these processes? .. and I was given 15 minutes to do so. The questions for me were ones that I regularly think about (particularly the first) as I walk through…
With less than a month to go to Shanghai EXPO, I have been receiving a number of requests for my opinion on the "sustainability" of the EXPO itself. It is a subject I addressed for the first time while speaking at a Net Impact event, and followed that up with a review of the UNEP report (part 1 and part 2) of the event, and most recently I was interviewed by NPR and following the recent JUCCCE…
1. Chengdu’s power saving technology world-leading, filling domestic gap On March 12th, Chengdu Gaowei Power Saving Technology Co., Ltd officially announced its latest R&D results costing 6 years and a few million yuan – the energy-saving technology and equipment of the submerged arc furnace and electric arc furnace. It is reported that this power-saving technology not only fills the domestic…
Went through my inbox this weekend and came across an email from a friend who had sent along their list of preferred China environmental bloggers and sites, and thought I would pass it on to you. A few of them I frequent, but others are new to me, so proceed with caution. If you have others that you feel are worth mentioning, please let me know in the comments section. English Sites/ Blogg…
If you have been following China for any amount of time, then you will know that China is good for a chart that will shock and awe readers. Few, if any, in the cleantech space have as much power as the one above, from the Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP study China’s Promotion of the Renewable Electric Power Equipment Industry (download here), and why I chose to pull it out is twofold. First, just loo…
If necessity is the mother invention under normal circumstances, then transparency is the mother of all necessity in China. It is something that we have seen over the years as crisis's propel the media further,something that the recent Yale 360 article As China’s Pollution Toll Grows,Protesters and Media Push Back eludes to: In recent months, protests over the severe illnesses caused by China'…
Over the holiday, I was catching up on some Big Think clips, and I came across the ... interesting... clip from the Economist's New Your Bureau chief Matthew Bishop where he discusses philanthropy in China. What I found ... interesting.. about the clip was that he seems to paint the picture that China, and its philanthropists, are having to become givers as part of an exercise whereby they…
The recent study The Greenness of China: Household Carbon Dioxide Emissions and Urban Development, a collaboration from researcher from UCLA, HArvard, and Tsinghua PhD candidates, takes a look at urban emission growth.. .using largely economic data.. and it is quite an interesting study. Download PDF here China urbanization is associated with both increases in per-capita income and greenhouse g…
In the lead up to, and in the middle of, the recent Copenhagen discussions the role of China as either the biggest polluter or as the biggest Cleantech investor has been the focal point for many. It is a bipolar focus that has defined many of the discussions on China in the past, and as the recently reviewed debate on whether China is a developed or developing country highlights, it is a condition…
Fresh off several conferences and meetings where discussions centered around smart grid, wind power, and other renewable energies, yesterday's tour of the Shanghai Municipal Waste Facility proved to be a very interesting site visit. Operational for three years now, this facility (one of two facilities in Shanghai) incinerates about 1,500 tons of trash a day from five districts of Shanghai (Shangha…
Regardless of whether you believe COP15 still has hope, or is a predetermined failure, the fact is that in about 3 weeks a large number of scientists, environmentalists, policy makers, and cleantech funds are going to be in Copenhagen... and the world will be watching. Even prior to the recent announcements from Singapore though, many had already begun gaming the outcomes, and hyping the need f…
This weekend, I gave my first keynote speech entitled What Sustainability Means to Me at the ecodesign fair. It was a speech that required a lot out of me, more than most, because I had to not only boil down several years of ranting into 30 minutes. I had to do it in front of people who were in the know. People who are respected members of the community. People would call me out. ... an…
With nearly every analyst report, news column, blogpost, or conference, I usually find myself wondering how that particular voice or medium would achieve the goals of sustainability, and more widely, the more I read... the more I realize we (as a people) need to sit down and work out just what exactly the goal of sustainability is. Is sustainability about green jobs for a district, or about cle…
What would a summer in China be without an algae outbreak on a major body of freshwater? Would it be like a day without industrial contamination? Recent cases have only served to highlight the fact that there is a dearth of systems in place. That, contrary to the announcements of 24/ 7 monitoring of bodies of water, a system has yet to be put into place to take the measurements and do anythin…
