Responsible Roundups

Responsible Roundup: More anti-pollution measures, enviro NGOs, melting glaciers, China’s new rich and a booby-trap Olympics

Beijing’s still crackin’ the anti-pollution whip.
Found via China Bystander: If Beijing is still unacceptably hazy and humid 48 hours before the Olympics, more cars will be taken off the roads and factories in the capital will shut down. See my previous about this here. And if you want a more interactive experience, check out Asia Society’s new “Room With a View” photo diary, found via China Crossroads.

Info on environmental NGOs is now available in a comprehensive format.
Another resource found via China Crossroads: “Chatham House has put out what I have found to be the most comprehensive set of documents on environmental NGOs in China,” blogger Rich Brubaker says.

A glacier in western China is melting. Fast.
Jonathan Watts of the Guardian reports by video about the incredible shrinking Urumqi No. 1 Glacier. It’s getting warmer faster, which can make for a more tolerable winter season, but it also means there’s less snow and rain, so grass doesn’t grow as well, and it’s affecting the food supply for the sheep of nomadic herdsmen. Melting glaciers = strong trickle down affect.

China’s “new rich” are still stuck in the “old CSR.”
John Elkington and Jodie Thorpe from SustainAbility, an independent think tank and strategy consultancy, write a piece for China Dialogue about the need for China’s wealthy entrepreneurs to make a more concerted effort to integrate corporate social responsibility into their business, rather than merely relying on charity and philanthropy, in order to drive social change. Here’s the main point: “Increasingly, business leaders are beginning to acknowledge that rather than externalising their conscience and values to corporate foundations, there is a better way — which involves integrating twenty-first century values into the business model and strategy of their core business.” Elkington and Thorpe give shout-outs to Chinese egg producer Deqingyuan, “which has built a brand around providing healthy and high-quality eggs in Beijing,” as one good example of a business that “is responding to societal needs by building profitable and successful businesses, rather than “giving something back” once the damage has been done.”

The Beijing Olympics is a trap.
Watch this video on The Onion to see what I mean.

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