Provinces pay price for green Olympics
March 15th, 2008
This article appeared in the Guardian on Saturday March 01 2008 on p29 of the International section. It was last updated at 00:13 on March 01 2008.
When seven white swans made a home on the Chaobai river in north-east Beijing last year, it was hailed as an Olympic success story. Until a few years ago, the waterway was so exploited that the bed was cracked dry.
Now the river has been refilled and the wildlife brought back, ready for rowing events in August. For Beijing, it was a showcase of how the “green” games can improve the environment. But four months on green activists are asking whether this and other cosmetic clean-ups are depriving arid regions of water during a particularly severe drought.
Thanks to a huge diversion, the Shunyi Olympic rowing park project has turned a dry river and its banks into a lush resort with a water surface of 63 hectares (155 acres) and a green area of 53 hectares. It is not the only hydro-engineering facelift. Beijing is diverting millions of gallons of water to ensure this dry and dusty city looks its best during the Olympics. Workers are rushing to complete a huge canal that will channel water from the Yangtze and other rivers in southern China to the parched but densely populated north.
Tags: between, china, s, waterway
March 16th, 2008 at 10:11 pm
They have this anti-doping law at the Olympics…
March 16th, 2008 at 11:02 pm
When US hosted olympics start to be boycotted… or at least international calls to do so can be widely found… I’ll start acting like this call is based on humanitarian compassion and not degenerate racism.
March 16th, 2008 at 11:53 pm
So we’re not allowed to say that the actions of a specific regime are bad?
March 17th, 2008 at 12:43 am
From the article: With rice, wheat, maize and feedstock up between 30 and 50 percent this year, ordinary people around the world are struggling to afford a simple life-sustaining diet. Indeed, since 2005, the prices of essential commodities have risen by an average of 75 percent. Drought, high oil prices, population increases and the use of arable land to feed the biofuel industry have combined to produce a global food crisis. Related: {pdf} James Lovelock: The catastrophe threatened by global heating is far worse than any war, famine, or plague in living memory; worse even than global nuclearwar. Much of the lush and comfortable Earth we now enjoy is about to become a hot and barren desert.permalinkfeedback | bookmarklets | buttons | widget | store | advertise WIRED.com - WIRED How-ToUse of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy(c) 2008 CondeNet, Inc. All rights reserved.please log in or register in to vote for the links you like or dislike. this will affect their ranking and help customize reddit for you.create a new accountall it takes is a username and passwordusername:email: (optional)password:verify password:setMessage($(’captcha’), ‘type the letters from the image above’);remember meI understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its User Agreement and Privacy Policy.create account
March 17th, 2008 at 1:34 am
Fuck Tibet, for littering the Reddit front page. I’m gonna support (whatever that means) the 2008 Olympics just out of spite.
March 17th, 2008 at 2:24 am
What are you talking about? Do you know the prosperity that the Chinese people have experienced in the past decade? Do you really think hundreds of million of them are being fucked by their government? The vast majority in that country have seen their quality of life improve in the past decade, and they are happy about it.
March 17th, 2008 at 3:15 am
The Olympic games have always been a forum for political expression. Consider that the Tibetans would never have had the chance to act out against the regime if international attention were not focused on China. The Chinese view the Olympics as an expression of national pride, and it would be far too kind to pretend everything is alright to suit the egos of the Chinese while ignoring the myriad crimes committed by their government.