If the goal is to solve (or avert) the problems of business as usual, then it is going to take more than band aids to do it. That is a simple lesson that I teach my students every semester, and one that requires them to go through a series of exercises to identify the root [...]

In this month’s Lancelot, a group of 6 authors have published the 10 page article Environmental health in China: progress towards clean air and safe water, and I would highly recommend readers take the time to download the paper (right click here) and read it. Here is their summary: Environmental risk factors, especially air and [...]

In what is clearly another step in right direction for a program based approach to sustainability, officials have announced that it will extends vehicle limits for another year. Fantastic. further, there are some updates to the program that suggest they have been taking the time to learn and improve the program, another good sign which [...]

With China’s energy production closely tied to the global economy, it should come as no surprise that Beijing’s skies have cleared up recently as a result of the downturn: In the second half of last year, a period that included the Olympics in August, Beijing recorded its lowest air pollution readings since 2000, according to [...]

There have been a ton of articles in the past week on the effectiveness of the pollution measures that were put in place prior to the Olympics. According to Science Daily’s coverage: During the two months when restrictions were in place, the levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) — a noxious gas resulting from fossil fuel [...]

In yet another example of just how anything is possible in China (especially when you close factories by the dozens), the good folks in Biejing have announced that they have meet their 2008 blue sky air targets a month early. As part of the clean air program, the authorities shifted most of the high-polluting plants, [...]

Xinhua has recently begun reporting the air quality levels of China’s largest cities. It is a topic that has received a lot of attention lately as the Olympics brought several thousand reporters to Beijing, but it is an issue that China has been dealing with and will continue with for a long time. According to [...]