Well it sure has been awhile since we have posted a new Green Beat, but I promise this is one of our finest works yet (in contains a decent amount of eco-rap). The main reason for our slowdown at Green Beat was because each of the main three green brothers have been busy with other full time endeavors. Shane just finished his first year at Franklin and Marshall, John has been working full time at New Energy Finance in Beijing, while Rene has been in and out of Zhengzhou helping to start the Institute for Social and Environmental Responsibility at SIAS University down there. A new green brother Li Xianghu of Beijing University of Geosciences helped us in making this new video on geothermal energy in Beijing.
Shane is back in Beijing for the summer, so hopefully we will be producing a couple more videos. He is also helping to organize the International Youth Summit on Climate Change, which takes place on July 18-19 so watch this space for more info on that.
Without further ado… our latest video: Geothermal energy in Beijing!
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You might not know it, but not all buildings in Beijing are heated using natural gas or coal. Some are heated (and some cooled as well) using geothermal energy. China’s Green Beat takes you around Beijing to explore two main technologies being used: deep well geothermal and ground source heat pumps.
In 2004, there was a plan to put 13 dams along the Nu River, one of the most biodiverse regions of China. The total output of the dams would surpass that of the Three Gorges Dam, and would be used to supply electricity to Southwest China. Wen Jiabao put a stop to the projects that year after a public outcry from environmentalists and foreign governments alike. Later in 2005, some smaller proposals received approval. It seems that construction has begun on at least one of the dams. Is there another way for this region to develop and use hydropower for its electricity needs without building dams which harm the natural and social environment? Maybe the picture seems bleak and the future inevitable, but there are a few signs and examples of a more sustainable route…
Yunnan province in Southwest China is a multicultural, beautiful place and a hotbed of biodiversity. Many rural people rely almost solely on firewood for their energy needs of cooking and heating. Over collection of firewood is the most immediate and significant threat to biodiversity in Northwest Yunnan, because of the amount of deforestation and destruction of habitat that takes place to harvest the wood. The use of biogas digesters and efficient stoves is increasing, however, which is in turn decreasing the need for wood, saving time and labor for rural people.
This new video is also a result of the video training meeting held in Beijing in April. This one comes from our Hong Kong team comprised of Serene Wei Wei Gao, Tennia Yue Zhao, Andrew Stevenson, and Alley Pezanoski-Browne. The video alerts the viewer to the growing problem of waste in Hong Kong and explores the underlying reasons for materialism and consumption. It also offers suggestions on how people can reduce the environmental footprint of their shopping and consumption.
Last time on Sun Zhe’s Adventures, our hero lined up some hot dates while touting the advantages of his bike and the bus even in the face of Beijing air pollution and traffic. This time, he has a new crush, Zhu Ying, who is as green as they come. Let’s see how Sun Zhe fares on his “green date.”
This episode, produced by Kunming Green Sisters Ouyang and Jenny, tells about “No Car Day”. What kind of effect does this once-a-month activity have on the city of Kunming? What do the local people think about it? Watch to find out.
September 22 was “No Car Day” around the world, but Kunming is the only Chinese city to have a “No Car Day” every month, held on the last Saturday from 9am to 5pm. The policy has its limitations, of course. Rather than fully banning cars throughout the entire city, only private cars are forbidden to enter the first ring road. Taxis, buses, bikes, scooters, and special purpose vehicles (or vehicles with greater than 17 seats that are more than 50% full) are allowed to travel anywhere in the city. Additionally, cars with odd plates can drive on odd months (even plates on even months) between the first and second ring roads. Any car can drive outside of the second ring.
The policy seems to have mixed results. On September 22, the Kunming Environmental Bureau reported much better air quality due to the limitation of private cars. “Carbon monoxide levels dropped 32.9 percent, nitrogen dioxide levels dropped 45.1 percent, ozone was down 39.5 percent, carbon dioxide was down 15.4 percent and airborne particulate matter was reduced by more than one-fifth.” (source) On the same day, the BBC reported Beijing drivers as having all but ignored the call for No Car Day, where the event was voluntary and not enforced as in Kunming. Having reported on April’s No Car Day, it was already the sixth monthly No Car Day. Most people that China’s Green Beat spoke with said that they had gotten used to the policy by now and adjusted their patterns by either taking public transport, not planning major shopping or events on those days, or borrowing their friends’ even-numbered plate car for the even-numbered month.
This new video, produced by Green Sisters Leigh Billings and Tina Hou in Shanghai, was a result of the video training meeting held in Beijing in April.
In China, packaging for consumer products is often excessive and gorgeous. Packaging creates a huge amount of waste, how can we get rid of this problem? First we must consider why do Chinese manufacturers always put layer after layer of packaging on their products. They must think the consumers are requesting all this packaging. But do they? If they do, why? In this short film, the Green Sisters investigate these questions using statistics, policy, interviews with customers and salespeoples, as well as a look at how the culture of gift-giving in China plays into the question.
Beijing International Theatre & Entertainment (BITE) in conjunction with China’s Green Beat will be performing the “Lean, Mean and Green” comedy to entertain audiences as well as to raise awareness about the environmental and business solutions. The hilarious show uses a Reality TV show format to discuss about the environment, poking fun at both environmentalists and industrialists. “Environmental pollution is everyone’s problem, and it’s particularly obvious here in Beijing. Modern media is displaying the debate with such doom and gloom which doesn’t solve anything. We are showcasing it using laughter and showing positive solutions. This will have an impact!” said Rene Ng, Director of “Lean, Mean and Green.” The play will be filmed and showcased online at a later date.
The “Lean, Mean and Green” shows will be performed on June 13, 14, 20, 21 at 7:30pm at Obiwan Bar, located at Xihai Xiyan No.4 Xicheng District. A map of the location can be found here: Lean Mean and Green location map
Tickets are RMB100 each. Discounted tickets are offered to Ex-pat students for RMB50 each and Chinese students for RMB30 each.
It has been awhile since we have updated our viewers with news or given you new content, but rest assured the Green Brothers have been hard at work the past few months. Our biggest news is that we are now in cooperation with China Dialogue, a premier bilingual site on the environment that focuses on Chinese and global issues. Through our cooperation agreement, we set up a conference in Beijing and selected 30 Chinese students (10 from Beijing, 20 from other cities ranging from Urumqi to Haikou, from Kunming to Harbin) to attend and receive training in how to make a China’s Green Beat video, a video that teaches the viewer about environmental solutions and engages them to take action. Over the next two months, new content will be released on China’s Green Beat and China Dialogue websites that was produced as a result of this conference and the efforts of students all across China. Here is a preview of what’s ahead.
China’s appetite for energy is growing just as quickly as its economy. Currently, 70% of primary energy in China comes from coal, creating large amounts of air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. Over the next ten years, China will see a growing portion of their energy come from renewable sources, due to an ambitious national policy. In this episode, China’s Green Beat visits a Beijing wind farm and investigates what role the United Nations’ clean development mechanism has played in the development of wind energy in China, which has been growing at 30% per year.
