China’s Emissions to Peak in 2030. Perhaps 2050. We’re Not Really Clear

Well, for anyone hoping for a quick turnaround, think again. A few reports out today that covered the release of the 2050 China Energy and CO2 Emissions Report are putting the peak of emissions in the 2030.. 2050 timeframe, The Reuters Coverage of the release also included a bit on where the government will look to study and address the "imminent threats" that pretty much everyone are in agreem…

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Understanding Beijing’s Olympic Park

In the run up to the Olympics, Beijing was perhaps the most active construction site globally. It was a massive concert of cranes and cement that built some of the most advanced event venues, transportation networks, and parks. For many, including myself, it was a process that left little doubt as to where the environment stood, and how often it stood in the way, but a recent presentation on the…

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Shanghai 2010 Expo. Sustainable?

Last week I was invited to speak at the Net Impact Event Is The Expo Sustainable about the Social Impact that the Expo would bring.  The problem for me was, that while my presentation was interesting, the presentations by the representatives from Hill & Knowlton and ARUP were simply fascinating... and have sent my brain into hyperdrive. Lindsay Messenger's message (I bet she hears that all…

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Chinese Babies Have 1/7th the Environmental Impact of Americans Babies

When discussing "sustainability", the topic of populations is one of those topics that can quickly lose out to solar panels, cap and trade, and biofuels. The problem is that population is a core consideration not only in looking back in history, but in plotting the path forward, and it is the subject of a recent study at Oregon State University. A study that found in the United States, th…

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Constraints to a Sustainable China

While recently speaking at the Net Impact Event, ARUP's Kate Dunham told the crowd that she felt there were three constraints that limited China's potential for adopting sustainability: 1) Regulatory Standards - standards she says have roots to the 1950s. 2) Business Environment - many have failed their responsibilities to the environment and are still unconvinced 3) Lifestyle Choices - T…

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China’s Problem of Lacking Capacity

Getting back to the roots of a problem can be a painful process, especially when it is known far in advance that the truth is going to hurt. It is in many ways perhaps the biggest inhibitor to growth, change, and progress around the world, and in China that is no different. When discussing the differences between the US and China's approach to the environmental issues they face , one of the poi…

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The Economy vs. Ecology

Submission from -  David Sutton PhD, Professor of Ecology The first commandment of economics is: Grow. Grow forever. Companies must get bigger. National economies need to swell by a certain percent each year. People should want more, make more, earn more, spend more - ever more. The first commandment of the Earth is: Enough. Just so much and no more. Just so much soil. Just so much water.…

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Decarbonizing the Supply Chain

When the average consumer thinks of clean transportation, they will think of hybrid cars, pubic transportation, or walking, but for the industrial world it has a whole different meaning. It is a world made possible by carbon as trucks, ships, and airplane move goods around the world from factory floor to retail shelf. You have warehouses, container yards, and distribution centers where goods ar…

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Will China’s Food Safety Law Prevent THIS?

Bitter to the taste, high in vitamin C, and fun to eat, pomelos have become of my favorite winter fruit in Shanghai and for the last few months that has meant picking one up a couple times a week. Until a couple weeks ago when I picked up this pomelo near my house, cracked it open, and saw the injection mark. As you can clearly see from the pictures below, there is an injection mark and ther…

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Dan Gilbert on Why We Fail to Act

Last year, I watched perhaps one of the more interesting Poptech videos. It was of Dan Gilbert, a Harvard professor in psychology, on why we as humans have failed to respond in any meaningful way in the face of  Global Warming. At the time, I wrote a review for it on Crossroads that elicited some comments from a good friend (and GW skeptic) that made me think about a wider picture of Dan's c…

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Impacts of Growing Populations

Recently, when looking to understand the issues of sustainability, I have been less concerned with mpg or SOX, but about populations. Specifically, the fact that in 1950 we were a mere 1.5 billion people.. and now we are 6.7billion. One of the more interesting, and concise documents, I found recently comes from the Population Media Center. Talking points on Population is a release from their me…

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China’s Environmental Costs: Cancer

While attending the JUCCCE conference last year, I began to understand that when looking at clean technologies, or otherwise making the case for "sustainability", it was important to understand the health costs to remaining brown. That in the end, policy makers and agency officials would eventually connect the dots and begin making investments into sustainability as the costs of their health ca…

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Jonathan Woetzle: China’s Urbanization

Jonathan Woetzle and his team and MGI have been doing a lot of work to research, analyze, and promote the way that China should urbanize. It is a report I read last year, and it is one I believe anyone who considers themselves as having a role in sustainability should read as it does a fair job of laying out the largest challendges and opportunities that China will face going forward. Where I th…

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Green Labels In China Vs. Green Labels in the US

A few weeks back, Inhabitat had a very interesting piece on green labels in the US entitled IS IT GREEN?: Eco-Labels and Certifications Shortly after that, Leigh at Crossroads made a trip to an organic conference in Shanghai with Julian at Green Leap Forward, and put together a report on the labels that they found there. A very interesting counterpiece to Inhabitat's, and clearly some import…

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Recognizing the Full Costs of Pollution in China

In the article Official warns environmental pollution no longer acceptable, I saw the strongest statement to date that officials and agencies are finally understanding the tradoff of full costs between economic growth and the environmnet: Yangzonghai Lake, famous for its springs, was found to contain arsenic in June in the Yuxi City section. A local company named Jinye Industry and Trade Co. Ltd.…

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