pollution

Hyatt, Wang Fu Jing, Beijing
Originally uploaded by scottsykes

In the last week I’ve seen some of the bluest skies in the one year plus that I have lived in Beijing, with the exception of the weeks during the Olympics. This is a picture I took on Tuesday outside the Hyatt in Wang Fu Jing. Having traveled [...]
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Imagethief recently received a message from longtime Beijing resident Sam Goodman, who had read my recent post on air pollution (an evergreen --or evergray-- topic here). Many readers will know that you can get daily air pollution data for key cities in China from from the website of the State Environmental Protection Agency (now the Ministry of Environmental Protection, following its recent upgrade to ministerial status).
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...the sun reflecting from the top of the Gemdale office tower casts a starburst in the smog. No run for me today.

I could smell coal every time I woke up during the night. That'll teach me to leave the filter off. Also, introducing the "pollution" tag to Imagethief. Don't know why it took me this long to get around to it. Perhaps the shock of coming back from California yesterday afternoon.

 
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Before reading this a couple days ago, I'd never heard of naturally occurring underground coal fires. Turns out, they're responsible for a significant amount of carbon emission and pollution.

From The Houston Chronicle:

Xi'an just opened the largest solar research facility in the world.

From Tradingmarkets.com:

XI'AN, Nov 11, 2008 (AsiaPulse via COMTEX) -- Applied Materials Inc. of the United States recently kicked off the construction of its global solar energy research and development (R&D) center in Xi'an, capital of Northwest China's Shaanxi Province.
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It’s a slow week around here. At least one fun little project I had planned — to spend an afternoon walking down the canal asking all the old fishermen why they do it and what they think about while they sit there by themselves all day every day — has been canceled on [...]
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Chinese Premier, Wen Jiabao, got chippy at a climate change conference yesterday.

From Reuters:

BEIJING, Nov 7 (Reuters) - Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said rich nations must abandon their "unsustainable lifestyle" to fight climate change and expand help to poor nations bearing the brunt of worsening droughts and rising sea levels.
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This has come sooner than many expected a few years ago.

From The Irish Times: