Attention all Beijing residents (and those who happen to be around):

Greening the Beige 3 is currently running for a week from November 21-28! This year’s festival is based around the theme “Re-energize Beijing” and features an eclectic variety of events, live performances, film screenings and community activities.

The festival kicked off yesterday with an elegant performance by Beijing Dance group LTDX and plenty of rapid-fire humor from Beijing Improv. Proceeds went to Hua-Dan, an NGO that empowers China’s migrant and rural populations through community theater projects. Starting initially in Beijing six years ago, the organization recently took its work to Sichuan, where it worked with children affected by the Wenchuan earthquake. The event also featured live and silent auctions for local green-themed artwork, and displays of some funky recycled-material transportation.

On Wednesday, swing by Napa bar for a green-themed pub quiz night, and on Thursday, the Hutong School is hosting a useful green cocktail social for those looking to improve their energy-related conversational ability.

On Friday, the festival moves to Trainspotting Cafe for a film screening and dinner event featuring the documentary film “Hope in a Changing Climate,” which will be aired globally by BBC World on the same day. The film, which documents and dramatically demonstrates how large-scale ecosystem restoration can stabilize the changing climate, catalyze sustainable agriculture, and significantly reduce poverty, will also be screened at the climate change conference in Copenhagen next month.

Finally, this Saturday GtB3 will close with a fantastic collection of events, featuring a (currently full) recycled film workshop, Pecha Kucha Beijing’s design presentations, the 3rd Annual Eco-Fashion Show, and then musical performances courtesy of Acupuncture Records.

For full details visit GtB’s website: http://www.greeningthebeige.org/gtb/

Photo courtesy of Alex Pasternack.

Our man Mark Hiew and friends John Romankiewicz (of China’s Green Beat) and Alex Pasternack (of Treehugger) called awareness to climate change on 350.org’s International Day of Climate Action on October 24 by rapping at the Roots & Shoots China Summit and Climate Action Carnival in Beijing.

From Treehugger:

…dropping green knowledge was legendary Beijing green rapper Sustainable John, of China’s Green Beat (see an old video here), accompanied by beatbox extraordinaire Huan Bao Panda (huan bao means environmental protection) and yours truly, MC ?uestration. A sampling: “we don’t carbon / we need a car ban! / if we want to go far/ man, we need a good plan.” Yep, we brought the house down, if not CO2 levels.

Hollllaaaa!

(If you’re interested, check out another post I wrote recently for TheCityFix.com about how hip-hop has changed the face of environmental advocacy: “Sustainable Cities and Hip Hop: Creating a New Urban Beat.“)

Call for Papers:

PACE (Professional Association for China’s Environment) is hosting the 2009 Wuhan International Conference on the Environment (WICE, 2009) from June 27-30, 2009 in Wuhan, which is the first experimental city for the development of a “Resource-Saving and Environmentally-Friendly” Eco-Society in China. The aims of this conference are to serve as an interdisciplinary scientific forum to present the most recent advances in environmental science and technology, and to foster integration of the latest scientific development into practical applications for the improvement of the environment.

Conference Presentation Topics/Sessions:

• Environmental Science and Human Health
• Environmental Pollution and Protection
• Ecosystem Assessment and Restoration
• Air, Ocean, Lake and River Monitoring and Modeling
• Eco-Cities and Sustainable Development Policy

PACE will organize and lead the “Eco-Cities and Sustainable Development Policy” session. The PACE session will be chaired by Ms. Jennifer Xu and Dr. Jinnan Wang, with the following sub-sessions:

• Sub-Session E1:  Energy Efficiency and Eco-City Development
• Sub-Session E2:  Emission Trade and Green Financing
• Sub-Session E3:  Cleaner Production and Circular Economy

Oral and poster presentations on research subjects and issues related to environmental science and technology are invited. All abstracts will be published in the Conference Proceedings, and potentially on a special issue of a major environmental journal.

Conference abstracts, written in clear, concise English, with 3–5 keywords and a maximum of 20 words in the title and 350 words in the text, should be submitted via the conference website. The original deadline for the abstract was no later than March 31, 2009. As PACE announcement is behind the schedule, please send your request for extension to CC Huang (Beijing correspondent for ResponsibleChina) at cc.huang2@gmail.com if needed.

Submit abstracts at http://wice2009.cespn.net/index.php/abstracts.

Environmental China

Published by PACE (Professional Association for China’s Environment)

A weekly update of China’s environmental news and analysis from PACE (www.pacechina.net)

By CC Huang

Welcome to Environmental China, PACE’s e-mail newsletter devoted to giving interested readers a comprehensive update of news concerning China’s environment. This newsletter will be sorted first with an Opinion section, and then a rundown of news divided into Public/NGOs, Government, and Corporations, with news about each sector’s involvement in China’s environment. Articles within each section is sorted chronologically. Any comments, suggestions or questions can be directed to cc.huang2@gmail.com.

OPINION

Growth is good but it must be green (China Daily, 3/26/2009) With the onslaught of the financial crisis last October, politicians and economists immediately began to blame Americans for consuming too much and Chinese for saving too much. Whoever is at fault, China has quickly learned that it can no longer depend on growing exports to drive its economy.

Opportunities abound in China’s environmental monitoring sector (Interfax-China, 3/23/2009) Environmental monitoring is becoming an increasingly important sector of the environmental protection industry as the Chinese government pays more attention to emission control and reduction.

Small-scale agriculture: A viable solution for China’s food and environmental concerns? (The Green Leap Forward, 3/18/2009)

PUBLIC SECTOR/NGOs

China’s green push starts at the bottom (BBC, 3/28/2009) Local farmers use to muck to create energy, reveals a trend toward environmentally friendly practices that might be more difficult for the government to understand.

Jet Li moves One Foundation toward combating climate change (China Daily, 3/26/2009) Kungfu star Jet Li is leading his One Foundation in a new direction - that is, raising public awareness about combating climate change and is teaming up with Tony Blair’s Climate Group to launch a low-carbon city project in Guiyang, Guizhou.

Pupil’s attend environmentally-friendly education activity (Xinhua News, 3/26/2009) Photo Gallery: Pupils attend environmentally-friendly education activity to observe plants in Yichang, Hubei.

Tibet: No; Climate Change, Yes! (NBC News, 3/25/2009) On Monday Greenpeace China turned Yongdingmen, one of Beijing’s ancient city gates, into a gigantic countdown clock ticking down to the United Nations’ Climate Change Conference to be held in Copenhagen in December.

Better to light a candle then curse the crisis (Shanghai Daily, 3/24/2009) Chinese from all across the country turn off their lights for an hour for Earth Hour, an hour celebrated across the world to increase awarenesss for conservation.

5th World Water Forum calls for joint action on water challenges (Xinhua News, 3/22/2009) The 5th World Water Forum, the largest water-related event in the world, concluded in Turkey on Sunday, or the World Water Day, with firm commitments of tackling global water challenges jointly in the context of sustainable development.

GOVERNMENT

China makes additional investment in pollution control in Songhua River Basin (Xinhua News, 3/25/2009) China will add 36 pollution control projects with an investment of nearly 1.8 billion yuan (26.3 million U.S. dollars) for pollution control in Songhua River Basin in the northeastern Jilin Province.

Top state-controlled think tank proposes greenhouse gas trading plan (China Daily, 3/25/2009) A top Chinese State think tank has proposed a global greenhouse gas trading plan to reflect the different historic emissions of rich and poor nations.

China and the Copenhagen Climate Change Agreement (Mark’s China Blog, 3/26/2009) Over the past few days, I’ve been reading some of the back-and-forth and jockeying for position among the global players in preparation for the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen later this year. From what I’m reading, a lot of people are hopeful that Copenhagen will provide a sustainable framework for growth over the coming century.

Minister of water resources: China to continue efforts in sustainable water system (Xinhua News, 3/22/2009) China will continue its efforts in infrastructure and water-related systems to enable sustainable development, Chinese Minister of Water Resources Chen Lei said Saturday on the eve of 17th World Water Day in an exclusive interview with Xinhua.

CORPORATIONS

Research report on Chinese solid waste disposal industry (Business Wire, 3/26/2009) Reportlinker.com announces that a new market research report is available in its catalogue on the Chinese solid waste dispostal industry.

Multiple Certification for Fuji Xerox recycling site in China (ChinaCSR.com, 3/26/2009) Fuji Xerox Eco-Manufacturing (Suzhou) has been granted quality and environmental certification for its integrated recycling system in China.

GD Power to spend 660 million yuan on alternative energy projects (China Daily, 3/26/2009) GD Power Development Co, a major power producer and heating supplier in the country, announced on Thursday that it will pour 660 million yuan ($96.63 million) into several alternative energy projects through its subsidiary to further diversify its business portfolio.

Auto Zone China: Aims for 10 Million New Cars in 2009, but $1.5 Billion goes to energy vehicles (SUSTY, 3/26/2009) The central government has promised 10 billion yuan (US$1.5 billion) funding for development and deployment of alternative energy vehicle technologies, including hybrid, all electric, and fuel cell vehicles, as well as standards that require more energy efficient manufacturing facilities.

Airbus: Expands Environmental Certification to US, China (Wall Street Journal, 3/25/2009) Aircraft maker Airbus said Wednesday Airbus Americas and Airbus China Beijing Campus have achieved certification according to the ISO 14001 standard for Environmental Management Systems.

Lax environmental laws give Chinese steel unfair edge (The Intelligencer, 3/25/2009) China’s lack of substantial environmental laws gives it an unfair advantage in the steel industry - a gap that could widen if future global-warming laws don’t address China, according to leaders in the U.S. steel industry.

Hebei invests in wind power (JLM Pacific Epoch, 3/25/2009) Hebei Provincial Construction Investment Corporation (HPCIC) plans to build wind power projects totaling 400MW and already has 100MW built or under construction, reports Shanghai Securities News quoting HPCIC General Manager Wang Yongzhong.

State Grid issues guidelines for CSR (China Daily, 3/23/2009) State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC), the first Chinese enterprise to formulate a corporate social responsibility (CSR) report in 2005, took the lead again in recently issuing a Guidance for the Implementation of CSR, thoroughly illustrating how the State-owned enterprise fulfills its social responsibilities.

Congratulations to Elizabeth Balkan for launching her new blog, New Energy and Environment Digest ????????, covering energy and environmental policy and regulatory standards in China.

“NEEDigest” (the branding of which is slightly reminiscent of GOOD or SEED magazine) has already published eight posts, covering a variety of topics from toxic dumping to clean tech business tycoons.

Balkan, a strategic business consultant, blogs with clarity and a keen sense of how China’s environmental story holds international relevance.

Definitely one to watch.

I lost an hour over the weekend (btw, did you know Daylight Savings Time is a waste of energy?) but gained some motivation to do a little virtual housekeeping on ResponsibleChina.

First order of business: Follow me on Twitter.

I vowed I’d never overextend my social networks, leverage my online relationships for self-indulgent purposes, and speak in abbrvs. but then realized that social messaging tools like Twitter can actually teach me a lot, and hopefully, allow me to share things with others who care to follow my train of thought. Just don’t ever call me a Tweethead, or I’ll start unplugging everything and chisel my blog into stone.

Second, check out these recently published China reports (found via my “Links” page):

• Addressing China’s Water Scarcity: Recommendations for Selected Water Resource Management Issues (World Bank, January 2009)
  The objective of this report is to provide an overview of China’s water scarcity situation, assess the policy and institutional requirements for addressing it, and recommend key areas for strengthening and reform.
• Overcoming Obstacles to U.S.-China Cooperation on Climate Change (Brookings Institution, January 2009)
  This report recommends ways to overcome obstacles to cooperation between the United States and China on climate change.
• Common Challenge, Collaborative Response: A Roadmap for US-China Cooperation on Energy and Climate Change (Asia Society, January 2009)
  The report explores the climate and energy challenges facing both nations and recommends a program for sustained high-level engagement and on-the-ground action.
• Independent Environmental Assessment: Beijing 2008 Olympic Games (UNEP, February 2009)
  This report discusses the environmental measures taken by 2008 Olympics organizers and assesses their effectiveness and lessons learnt, all of which will be useful for those planning future Olympic and other sporting events.

Am I missing a critical document? Email me: erica[at]responsiblechina.com.

Third, see the latest listings on my job board:

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

• Call for Submissions: China’s 12th Five Year Plan on the Environmental Front

China is planning for the development of the new 12th Five Year Environmental Protection Plan. The Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) has published a notice soliciting participation in research projects on various topics that will make up the components of that plan.

JOBS:

• New Ventures China Senior Fellow // World Resources Institute: New Ventures China (Beijing) // Mar 04
• Sustainability Specialist // Wal-Mart China (Shenzhen) // Mar 01
• Sustainability Manager / China // Wal-Mart China (Shenzhen) // Mar 01
• Senior Director of Sustainability // Wal-Mart China (Shenzhen) // Mar 01

If you have anything to share, please submit your post for free.

Fourth, check out these upcoming D.C.-area events (via my 30Boxes calendar):

March 18, noon-2pm: Film Screening of “Up the Yangtze”
Post-Film Discussant: Judith Shapiro, American University
Author of Mao’s War Against Nature: Politics and the Environment in Revolutionary China
Location: Woodrow Wilson Center’s 6th Floor Flom Auditorium

No RSVP necessary for this event and seating will be on a first-come-first-serve basis!

As part of the 2009 D.C. Environmental Film Festival in the Nation’s Capital (March 11-22)

“A luxury cruise boat motors up the Yangtze, navigating the mythic waterway known in China simply as “The River.” The Yangtze is about to be transformed by the biggest hydroelectric dam in history. At the river’s edge a young woman says goodbye to her family as the floodwaters rise towards their small homestead. The Three Gorges Dam, a contested symbol of the Chinese economic miracle provides the epic backdrop for Up the Yangtze, a dramatic feature documentary on life inside modern China.”

March 18, 4pm-6pm: Minister Xie: U.S.-China Climate Change Cooperation
Location: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Map: more info

Speakers: Minister Xie Zhenhua, Vice Chairman, NDRC, People’s Republic of China

“U.S.-China cooperation is vital for progress on climate change, as the countries together produce 40 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. The vice chairman of China’s National Development and Reform Commission, Minister Xie Zhenhua, will discuss China’s climate change and energy policies and priorities, the role of non-governmental organizations, and the importance of bilateral cooperation. Minister Xie will speak in Chinese with simultaneous translation to English.”

The event will be followed by a reception in honor of Minister Xie.

Attendance is by invitation only. All transfers must be approved.

RSVP for this event:
ataylor[at]ceip.org

Finally, help me fix what’s broken.

I started this blog in the summer of 2007. A lot has changed since then. If you notice broken links, incorrect info, or just a general lack of quality content, please let me know and I’ll do my best to improve the problem.

A notice via the University of California, Los Angeles CHINAPOL listerv:

Call for conference papers (Deadline February 8th, 2009)

CHINA AND GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE:
Reconciling International Fairness and Protection of the Atmospheric Commons

Conference Dates: 18-19 June 2009
Location: Lingnan University, Hong Kong, China
Website: http://www.ln.edu.hk/caps/conference.php

The Centre for Asian Pacific Studies (CAPS) and the Environmental Studies Programme (ESP) at Lingnan University, Hong Kong, are jointly organizing a conference on “China and Global Climate Change.” The conference will address the problem of how to reconcile China’s growing greenhouse gas emissions with the Chinese government’s unwillingness to join binding international commitments to reduce those emissions.

Since the start of international negotiations on climate change in the 1980s, the Chinese government has refused to be bound by commitments to limit its pollution of the atmosphere. This refusal is based on the historical responsibility of the world’s wealthy countries for past emissions and China’s status as a developing country. President Hu Jintao recently reaffirmed that China will not commit to mandatory
emissions-reduction targets before the world’s wealthy countries take the lead in addressing global climate change. He has also called on affluent countries to pay for emissions limitations in China and other developing countries.

Alongside these Chinese concerns about justice and historical responsibility is the new reality that China has become the largest national source of pollution causing climate change. Without China’s involvement, notably limitations in its future greenhouse gas emissions, international efforts to mitigate global warming substantially are unlikely to succeed. This comes against the backdrop of increasing concerns among atmospheric scientists that global warming is happening more quickly than predicted, that climate change will be more severe than anticipated, and that the poorest countries and people of the world will experience monumental suffering in coming decades as a consequence.

This conference seeks to assess how China’s longstanding concerns about international fairness and justice can be squared against the pressing need for an effective international regime that limits greenhouse gas emissions – including those from China.

CONFERENCE THEMES AND QUESTIONS:

Major conference themes include the following:

(1) Practical Considerations, including the latest findings on greenhouse gas emissions and climate change impacts related to China’s role
(2) Ethical Considerations, including questions of fairness, justice and human rights related to climate change and China’s role
(3) Political Considerations, including issues related to the domestic and international politics of climate change, the international climate change negotiations, and the political significance in other
countries of China’s climate change diplomacy and policies.

We aim to address these and others questions related to China and global climate change:

• Is there any common ground between China’s concern with development and international justice, on one hand, and growing greenhouse gas emissions and the worsening problem of climate change, on the other?
• What must the developed countries do to persuade the Chinese government to commit to greenhouse gas limitations, and eventually reductions, in the future? How can they facilitate those limitations?
• Does China’s newfound wealth undermine the argument that it should not be required to limit its greenhouse gas emissions? What ethical arguments bolster or bring into question China’s reluctance to restrain emissions?
• How do the adverse impacts of climate change for China’s poorest people, and indeed for poor people throughout the developing world, affect China’s obligations? Does China have obligations to poorer countries just as wealthier countries have obligations to China?
• How significant is it, practically, ethically and politically, that China is going down the same fossil-fuel development path as the West just as scientists are warning of the severe consequences of doing so? Does it matter that China’s economic emergence has occurred against the backdrop of improving climate science, whereas the West was historically unaware that its development path was unsustainable?
• Should China’s new wealthy classes be allowed to hide behind China’s developing-country status to avoid lifestyle changes increasingly demanded of most people, including poor ones, in the world’s developed countries?
• How is the failure of Western governments to implement major cuts in greenhouse gases a political issue in China? Do China’s positions on climate change make it more difficult for developed-country governments to persuade their constituents to accept the major cuts in greenhouse gas emissions that will be required to address climate change?
• Are workable and affordable technical solutions available to allow China to take a different development path so that its people can enjoy the fruits of modernity without causing monumental harm to the global environment? How can the West encourage and support those solutions?
• Given that China and the United States are the largest national sources of greenhouse gas pollution, albeit with very different capabilities and historical responsibilities, how might they work together to protect the atmospheric commons?

INVITATION TO PARTICIPATE:

We invite paper proposals from individuals wishing to present papers at the Hong Kong conference (see below).

We welcome participation by scholars (including advanced postgraduate students) and practitioners of global environmental policy, climate change politics, environmental and energy policy, sustainable development, international relations, environmental foreign policy, China studies and related fields.

In conjunction with the conference meeting in Hong Kong, we intend to introduce a ‘virtual’ aspect for participants who wish to participate from outside Hong Kong. Individuals interested in participating online are also encouraged to submit paper proposals (see below).

All papers will be eligible for publication in the conference proceedings. A selection of papers will be invited for inclusion in a peer-reviewed book and potentially in a special issue of a scholarly journal.

PAPER PROPOSALS:

Please send the following information via email to CAPS@ln.edu.hk no later than 8 February 2009.

NAME:
PAPER TITLE:
PAPER ABSTRACT (up to 300 words):
INSTITUTION:
POSITION:
EMAIL ADDRESS:
POSTAL ADDRESS:
FAX NUMBER:
TELEPHONE NUMBER:

Please indicate whether the paper is for presentation at the Hong Kong meeting or through online participation.

We will inform authors of accepted abstracts by 28 February 2009. Further details of the conference will be forthcoming.

We have a new member of the RespChi family. Please help me welcome CC Huang, born in Hubei, raised in Iowa, and currently residing in Beijing.

Stay tuned for her first post!

CC Huang, Beijing correspondent
cc.huang2 [at] gmail.com

My name is CC Huang and I am an international affairs major with minors in philosophy and Chinese at George Washington University (GWU). I was born in Hubei, China but immigrated to the United States when I was three to join my parents in Seattle. Most of my memorable life took place in Iowa City, Iowa.

I became increasingly aware of the international community and global issues through policy debate in high school and developed a strong sense of curiosity through involvement with journalism.

Since then, I’ve had a variety of work experiences in Washington, D.C. I’ve worked with the World Security Institute as a development intern, volunteered as a Chinese teacher through the Global Languages Network, and coached policy debate at Georgetown Day School. I also helped Joshua Eisenman, a fellow in Asia Studies at the American Foreign Policy Council, conduct research on party relations between China and various African governments.

This past semester, I’ve canvassed for Barack Obama, worked as an admissions assistant for the Saudi Arabian Cultural Mission, and conducted research for Roy Richard Grinker, an International Affairs, Anthropology, and Human Sciences professor at GWU, on the politicization of science and public-science relations.

Last summer, I worked in Beijing as an assistant editor for China Security, a foreign policy journal that is dedicated to bringing the perspective of Chinese scholars to Washington. I am now back in Beijing to study at Peking University. I plan to stay here for a year to improve my Chinese and work with organizations committed to human rights and environmentalism. I also have my own blog, Chinamatic.

A view of the Capitol from the Washington Monument. Photo by Erica Schlaikjer.

Tonight, at the end of Barack Obama’s first full day as President, I am proud to be an American and excited about my country’s renewed commitment to transparency and accountability.

I was there Tuesday - along with 2 million other people - by the Washington Monument on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., about a mile away from the Capitol where Obama gave his speech.

“What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility,” he said.

May the rest of the world share this commitment, too.

A note from Lijian Zhao, environment program manager for The Asia Foundation:

The Asia Foundation and Global Environmental Institute has jointly launched an environmental entrepreneurship training project in Beijing, for those interested in business solutions to environmental problems. For more information please visit the program webpage (in Chinese): http://www.geichina.org/eco-training

Please spread the word to those who might be interested in joining the project.

Hurry! The deadline to apply is January 15, 2009.

Find more info here.