Carbon Reduction Realities

 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

"The carbon cuts we have made so far... have been achieved by means of a simple device: allowing other countries, principally China, to run polluting industries on our behalf."

George Monbiot

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Ed Stetzer - Lottie Moon and House Churches

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Ed Stetzer - Lottie Moon and House Churches:

When the gospel is allowed to grow naturally in China, without forcing processes of development, the "church in the house" is usually its first form of organization. God grant us faith and courage to keep "hands off" and allow this new garden of the Lord's planting to ripen in the rays of the Divine Love, free from human interference!

- Lottie Moon, Pingtu, September 10, 1890

Was Lottie Moon right for China at that time?

Is she right now for Europe? America?

I've been increasingly struck in recent years at the way Paul preached the gospel and "allowed" it to take root in its natural, culturally appropriate context. In the case of the first century Greco-Roman world, this natural context was the extended household.

Is the same true in twenty-first century Britain?

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Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao - Welcome to Britain

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As the Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao meets the UK Prime Minister David Cameron today, a short video filmed in secret by one of his fellow Chinese citizens.

Political dissident Hu Jia (pictured), who was released from prison today after three and a half years, has been placed under informal house arrest at his home in Beijing. His "crime" was to write articles and give interviews that were critical of the Chinese government for its human rights abuses. His open letter titled The Real China and the Olympics was published in 2008. 

Prior to his imprisonment, Hu Jia and his wife were placed under near-constant police surveillance. The following video was secretly filmed during this period. Amnesty estimates that since February of this year, at least 130 political activists (including bloggers, writers and lawyers) have been disappeared, or placed under house arrest or close surveillance.

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Environmental News Updates

Some random links that caught my eye this week, all around the themes of severe weather, climate change and attempts at making the transition towards sustainable energy.

The Boston Globe has a major photo essay on the recent floods and landslides in western China:

At midnight on Sunday, August 8th, a temporary lake caused by a recent landslide broke loose above the town of Zhouqu, in Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, China. The outflow slid down the valley as a wall of mud, wiping out houses and multi-story buildings, and killing at least 1,144 residents - with over 600 still reported as missing. More than 10,000 soldiers and rescuers arrived soon to comb through the mountains of mud that buried several parts of Zhouqu County. Engineers also worked to blast the debris that had passed through the town to partially block the Bailong River, causing further flooding. Collected here are images of the landslide-affected area of northwestern China, part of a series of disasters in Asia caused by recent heavy rains.

41 dramatic photos make up the piece, here.


On a more positive note, the New York Times reports on Portugal's success in producing 45% of its electricity through renewables this year, an increase of 17% on 2009. Wind, wave, hydro and solar power are all combining to make Portugal a world leader in renewables.

Prime Minister José Sócrates is quoted: “I’ve seen all the smiles — you know: It’s a good dream. It can’t compete. It’s too expensive....The experience of Portugal shows that it is possible to make these changes in a very short time.”

Meanwhile, the world's largest marine turbine - weighing 130 tonnes and capable of generating electricity for 1,000 homes - has been unveiled and is about to be deployed in the seas around Orkney. The turbine is capable of turning (and thus generating power) with both the rise and fall of the tides in some of the roughest seas in the world.

Finally, the Global Footprint Network has announced that August 21st is Earth Overshoot Day in 2010, defined as:

the day when human demand on nature surpasses what nature can renewably supply...as of August 21st, humanity will have demanded an amount of ecological resources equivalent to what it takes nature 12 months to produce.

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Good News from Google

Google's decision to end its censorship of China's branch of the Internet is a welcome development.

The original decision to launch the Great Firewall of China was widely criticised back in 2006, including on this blog.

Robert Peston, meanwhile, moves outside the financial sector to raise questions about the nature and logic of Google's announcement, here. And Global Voices has some views on Google's announcement from bloggers inside China here.

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Guinea, Guns and BAE Systems

To nobody's great surprise, recent atrocities in the west African country of Guinea, when civilians opposed to Capt. Moussa Dadis Camara's military junta were attacked, killed and raped by soldiers loyal to the regime, have an indirect link to BAE Systems.

Eye witness reports of the 29th September massacre, when 157 people were reportedly killed at a rally calling for Camara to not take part in Presidential elections planned for next January, describe some of the weapons and equipment used by army units as they unleashed a brutal attack upon the crowd of 50,000 at a football stadium in the capital Conakry.

These reports include descriptions of:

• French-made Cougar grenade launchers, whose sale to Guinea were authorised by the French government in 2007
• Mamba Mine Protected Vehicles, built by BAE Systems and reportedly sold to the Guinea regime through a South African intermediary company

Since the September massacre, during which widespread rape is reported to have taken place, Amnesty International have called for an immediate suspension of all weapons and arms supplies to Guinea.

A participant within the armed forces who took part in the September massacre has described the army as being leaderless and in a state of chaos. He also claims that elements from neighbouring Liberia are operating at middle ranking levels within the Guinea army.

Human Rights Watch reported in 2003 that Guinea was used as a major transit route for illegal arms shipments to the Muslim-majority LURD rebel group in their conflict with the government of Charles Taylor between 1999 and 2003. The report claims that these arms shipments originated in the Ukraine and Iran.

To add to the complexity, the military junta in Guinea has, since the massacre, announced a $7billion mineral rights deal with the People's Republic of China.

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China in Space

China Launches First Willing Manned Mission Into Space





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Amnesty on the Beijing Olympics

“The Beijing Olympics have been a spectacular sporting event but they took place against a backdrop of human rights violations, with activists prevented from expressing their views peacefully and many in detention when they have committed no crime.

“The Chinese authorities and the IOC had an opportunity to demonstrate human rights improvements but in most respects they failed to deliver. Forced evictions, detention of activists and restrictions on journalists should not blight another Olympics.”

More.





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Naomi Klein on China and the Olympics

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China Clamps Down on Journalists Ahead of the Olympics

Reporters Without Borders reports a number of arrests of Chinese journalists in recent weeks:

• Cyber Journalist Huang Qi and several associates have been held for more than a month in Chengdu, without access to lawyers or outside contact. The arrests follow criticism on his website 64Tianwang of corruption in the allocation of money following the May 12th earthquake.

• Chen Xi, Liao Shuangyuan and Wu Yuqin were arrested on 8 July for investigating the death of a teenage girl in suspicious circumstances in the district of Wengan (in Guizhou province). The articles are part of a larger public campaign - most dramatically in a public demonstration by thousands of local people outside the local Public Security Bureau on June 28. The three activists have since been placed under house arrest.

• Human rights activist Yuan Xianchen has been detained since 28 May for his part in collecting signatures for the “We want human rights not Olympic Games” petition

• Police confiscated a camera and memory card from reporter Chen Yang of Hong Kong on 11 July in Beijing. At the time, she was taking photos of small investors protesting against the alleged embezzlement of 170 million Chinese yuan by China Commodity Spot Exchange President Guo Yuanfeng.

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111 Countries Agree Cluster Bomb Ban

The Dublin Conference on Cluster Munitions has concluded with a landmark international agreement banning the production, transfer, stockpiling and use of cluster munitions, as well as providing help for the victims of such weapons and committing signatories to the clearing of areas previously bombed within 10 years. The agreement requires the destruction of existing stockpiles within 8 years.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon welcomed the new agreement as "a new international standard that will enhance the protection of civilians, strengthen human rights and improve prospects for development."

The agreement is the culmination of a process of negotiation that began with the Oslo Process of February 2007 and was furthered at the Wellington Conference in February 2007. The agreement has been signed despite the absence of many major producers of cluster bombs - the United States, China, Russia, Israel, India and Pakistan.

Irish Foreign Minister Michael Martin, hosting the conference, expressed the hope that the new agreement will "stigmatise" the use of cluster weapons in any further conflict, even on the part of non-signatories. A similar pattern followed the banning of land mines, which the United States initially refused to sign up to.

The decision of the British government to drop its previous objections to the agreement represented a significant moment of breakthrough in the conference - although it was obtained as a result of a vague compromise clause which allows for the possible development of future more precise weapons in the future.

Steve Goose, from Human Rights Watch, expressed the belief that as a result of the historic agreement, "Cluster munitions have been tossed on the ash heap of history." The video below provides some background to today's treaty.

Further posts on this blog on the subject of cluster munitions can be viewed here and here.

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Drought in China

Northern China has experienced its lowest rainfall for 57 years - only 6.2 mm since January.

The worst hit area is Heilongiiang Province in the north east - China's largest supplier of corn, rice, soybean and wheat.

Keep on eye on this story.

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Rice - a Staple of Social Upheaval?

Rice may be emerging as the trigger for widespread social unrest across Asia.

As demand surges, prices have doubled in the last five years and reserve stocks have fallen to their lowest levels for thirty years.

In response to this trend, a number of Asian countries have imposed export bans on their own supplies of rice, a move likely to further raise prices in the rice-importing countries.

Recent developments include:

• protests in Indonesia's capital Jakata over the rising cost of rice

• an export ban on Cambodia's rice supply
  

• a 22% reduction in rice exports from Vietnam

• an increased export tax on rice from India - from $500 to $650 per tonne

Meanwhile, the government of the Philippines (the world's largest rice importer) has also asked Vietnam recently to guarantee its own supply of rice among concerns about the former's ability to feed its population, which now stands at nearly 90 million.

The Philippine government has been widely criticized for not ensuring sufficient home-grown supplies of rice over the years as consumers now face major price rises on this staple product.

Meanwhile, China, the world's biggest rice producer, has announced plans to increase the subsidy paid to rice (and wheat) framers in an attempt to boost production and stabilize prices. China's rice crop is almost entirely used in its domestic market.






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Bible Business Booms in China

The contradictions of modern China abound.

Christians who meet outside of the state-run official "church" are routinely arrested, Bibles are confiscated and leaders imprisoned, especially in rural areas.

Meanwhile, China exports Bibles around the world.

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Guess Who is Opposing Ban on Cluster Bombs?

With delegates from more than 120 national governments meeting in New Zealand to discuss a world ban on the use of cluster bombs, Britain, the US, China and Russia are all opposing the idea. The latter three are not even attending.

New Zealand Defense Minister Phil Goff opened the 5-day conference by informing delegates that its aim was "to build agreement among a sufficient mass of countries, including those who possess cluster munitions, to form a legally binding treaty to stop unacceptable harm to civilians."

Figures for the percentage of mini-bomblets contained within a typical cluster bomb that fail to detonate on impact are, not surprisingly, heavily disputed. While the MOD figure is 6%, Landmine Action places the total between 7-11%, based on the failure rate of cluster bomblets in the Kosovo campaign of 1999.

With some types of cluster bomb containing bomblets (technically sub-munitions) that are brightly coloured, they are about the size of a soft drink can and have proven a particular danger to children.

Unicef estimates that about 1000 children in Iraq have been injured or killed by such munitions since the 2003 war, the sub-munitions remaining live for months or years after their initial deployment. After the first Gulf War, there were over 1,600 deaths or injuries to Kuwaiti citizens from unexploded cluster bomblets used in that country to drive out Iraqi forces.

The following table indicates the number of cluster bombs used in Iraq by American and British forces since 2003. Figures are in the public domain and are from the British Ministery of Defence and the US Pentagon.

Type	Quantity	Number of bomblets (sub-munitions)	Originator	Location
RBL 755 (arial delivery)	66	147 per bomb (=9702)	RAF	Not stated
L20 Cluster Shells	2,098	49 per shell (=102, 802)	Royal Artillery	Basra
CBU-103	818	202 per missile (=165,236)	USAF	Not stated
BBU-105	88	202 per missile (=17776)	USAF	Not stated
CBU-105	6	202 per missile (=1212)	USAF	Baghdad

China, Russia and the United States - the main producers of cluster bombs - are not participating in the Wellington Conference either directly or by sending observers. Meanwhile, France, Germany, Japan and the UK have been tabling motions to restrict the terms of any agreement reached at the conference - including excluding certain weapons from a ban, allowing their use in conflicts with countries which do not sign the treaty and building in a transition period before any ban becomes law.

Steve Goose of Human Rights Watch responded: "The treaty must not be weakened to pander to the interests of users, producers and stockpilers."

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China Continues Human Rights Crackdown Ahead of Olympics

“Beijing has given virtually no signs that it intends to keep the promises made to the international community in exchange for hosting the Games. On the contrary, we have witnessed a systematic effort to silence, suppress and repress Chinese citizens who are trying to push the government into greater respect for fundamental rights.”

Sophie Richardson, Asia advocacy director at Human Rights Watch, Feb 6th 2008

Click here for video evidence of the crackdown.

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Extreme Weather

Conforming to the view that the British are inclined to discussions about the weather, here is a snap shot of extreme weather events taking place today, February 4th, across the globe.

• Kuwait - unusual fluctuations in daytime temperature
• China - the worst snow storms in 50 years
  
• Great Britain - severe weather warnings issued
• Indonesia - torrential rain leaves 2,000 homeless
• Israel - 8 inches of snow falls in Jerusalem

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China's Olympic Lie

Journalist Aiden Hartley has gained access to China's "Petitions Office" in Beijing where citizens have a right to seek redress from injustices ignored by local officials.

In fact, complainants are routinely arrested as trouble makers and placed in prisons which do not officially exist.

Many of the people in the video are victims of forced land acquisitions in connection with the development of the sites for the Beijing Olympics and are seeking redress. The silence from Western governments over this issue is deafening.

The video was recently aired on Channel 4 and is now available in three parts on YouTube or as a whole on Veoh here.

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The Problem with Bottled Water

Among the marketing success stories of recent years, surely one of the best must be the growth of bottled water, turning a generation away from their taps to the bottle.

With over 150 billion liters of bottled water consumed worldwide every year, the demand for the product is increasing dramatically, not least in countries where tap water has always been safe.

Top drinking countries are (in order) the United States (30 billion +) followed by Mexico, China and Brazil. Italy and Germany lead the way among the remaining industrialized nations, using over 10 billion liters of bottled water each.

The environmental impact of bottled water is considerable. Transporting it involves burning significant quantities of fossil fuels. Nearly a quarter of all bottled water crosses national borders to reach consumers, transported by boat, plane, train, and lorry.

Fossil fuels are also used in the packaging of water. PET plastic is derived from crude oil. The United States alone uses more than 1.5 million barrels of oil each year, enough to fuel about some 100,000 cars for year. Worldwide, 3 million tons of plastic are used to bottle water each year.

The bottles themselves, when land-filled, can take up yo 1,000 years to bio-degrade. When incinerated, they release several toxic by-products, especially chlorine gas. Although recycling of PET products is increasing, some of this product is transported long distance - thus adding to fossil fuel consumption. Remarkably, almost 40 percent of recycled American PET bottles were actually exported - some as far as China!

The UN Millennium Development Goal for environmental sustainability calls for halving the proportion of people lacking sustainable access to safe drinking water by 2015. Meeting this goal would cost about $30 a year - double what is currently spent worldwide on water supply and sanitation.

Meanwhile, approximately $100 billion is spent each year on bottled water.

I think it's time we got re-acquainted with our kitchen tap.

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China Bans Free Plastic Bags

The land of the multiplying coal fire power station is about to take a great leap forward - by banning the practice of stores handing out free plastic bags to shoppers, according to Jane Macartney of the Times (see link above).

Citing energy waste and pollution as the driving forces, this ground-breaking initiative will come into effect on June 1st and is aimed at dramatically reducing the use of plastic bags across the country. The modern Chinese retail sector gives away three billion such bags a day and the economy is currently using five million tons of crude oil a year to produce them along with other plastic wrappings. From the summer, Chinese shoppers will have to revert to their older practice of taking a net shopping bag or taking their groceries home in paper or permanent cotton shopping bags. Alternatively they can buy them from the retailer - perhaps the weak point of this policy.

It's a move that the West should imitate. Governments are often guilty of tinkering round the edges of environmental issues when sometimes stronger action is needed. Despite all the progress in recycling and waste reduction in recent years, plastics remain the Elephant in the Living Room. They use a lot of oil to produce, do not bio-degrade within any meaningful timescale and are notoriously difficult to recycle.

Personally, I see plastics as the next big issue in domestic environmental action.

It's ironic that China - whose modernization programmes are often cited by Western governments as one of the reasons they will not commit to binding reductions in greenhouse gases - should take a lead in this area.

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