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By 2010, China will unveil a modern city powered by 100% renewable resources, capable of growing all of its own food using organic farming methods and recycling all of its waste.

The future city, Dongtan, is growing out of an island at the mouth of the Yangtze River Delta. The unique Ecocity being built on the island is also a creative way to protect the island’s ecologically sensitive wetland environment from China’s fast-paced development.

What will life in China’s first ecocity look like?

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Following, organized by region, are the top international environmental news for during the week of April 20 - 27. See an archive of top international environmental news here.

Asia

Working the land the natural way: Organic farming in China

It’s been almost four years since the project was launched, and of the nine households who have tried organic farming, only four are still at it. The others decided it just wasn’t worth it. Organic farming requires much more labor, the yield can be half or less of that of conventional farming, and besides, hardly anyone in Chengdu is eating organic. Our stock broker-turned-farmer estimates their customer base to be only 0.01% of Chengdu’s population.

Anlong farmer Gao Shengjian believes there’s a link between the use of pesticides and fertilizers on farms and the growing incidences of various diseases among the rural population.

Source: Crossroads China. Vote for this article in social media: StumbleUpon.

China down to 12 days worth of coal

China only has enough coal for 12 days of consumption, three days less than a month ago, state media reported Wednesday, sounding the alarm bells over the nation’s most important source of energy.

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Choi Seung-kuk, the Secretary General of Green Korea, one of South Korea’s largest environmental organizations, has officially bowed out as an Olympic torch bearer. In a press interview this morning, Mr. Choi cited China’s aggression in Tibet as his main reason for refusing to carry the Olympic torch when it arrives in Seoul, the capital city, on April 27.

For China, having one of the leaders of Asia’s environmental movement refuse to carry the Beijing Olympic torch must sting. After all, China is jumping through hoops to carry out the Beijing Olympics as the Green Olympics. They are decreasing pollution by planting trees, recycling wastewater, paying car owners not to drive, and more. In addition, the games themselves will be carbon neutral.

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Following are the top international environmental news for during the week of April 13 - 20. See an archive of top international environmental news here.

Asia

Two “Extinct” Species Discovered

First there was Swinshoe’s softshell turtle, and then the Javan Elephant. Is this more commonplace than we might believe?

Frankly, no. Despite the occasional hubbub over an animal science has lost track of– say, the Coelacanth– we’ve witnessed something extraordinary. Swinshoe’s turtle was previously believed to be extinct in the wild, with only three remaining in captivity, and therefore every one of these 300-pound turtles is a critical find.

Continue reading: Environmental Graffiti. Hot in media: Stumble Upon.

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In case you missed them the first time around, here are the top 10 international environmental headlines that made news in the blogosphere for the week of March 31 - April 6.

1. Asia — United Nations Climate Change Talks: “Kyoto II” climate talks open in Bangkok

“The first formal talks in the long process of drawing up a replacement for the Kyoto climate change pact opened in Thailand on Monday with appeals to a common human purpose to defeat global warming.

‘The world is waiting for a solution that is long-term and economically viable,’ U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon said in a video address to the 1,000 delegates from 190 nations gathered in Bangkok.

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In a press conference on Thursday, Lester Brown, president of the Earth Policy Institute, shared his concern that greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere will lead to grain and water shortages in India and China as well as rising grain prices in the United States.

“The world has never faced such a massively predictable potential reduction in grain harvest as we are now looking at with the melting of the glaciers in the Himalayas and the Tibetan Plateau,” said Mr. Brown. “Keep in mind, this is not based off of a climate model with somewhat theoretical projections. This analysis is based on what is already happening–on a trend that’s very well established in both India and in China.”

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The Olympic Games brings together nations and competitors from all corners of the world, binding all together in the ideals of sport. But however noble, an event as large as the Olympics has the potential for significant environmental impacts - thousands of people travelling from all over the world, combined with the heavy construction required to develop the games’ infrastructure can make quite an ecological dent.

Worse still, in many places heavy traffic and additional stress placed on local infrastructure threatens to exacerbate existing environmental concerns. With the possibility of some athletes wearing face masks to avoid inhaling excessive pollution, Beijing is working hard to improve its air quality ahead of the games, even going so far as to close 10% of the city’s petrol stations and fitting the remainder with devices to prevent escape of petrol fumes whilst motorists fill up.

The International Olympic Committee has warned that some events may even have to be postponed if Beijing’s notorious smog is deemed to thick, and similar concerns have been voiced over the London Olympics due to be held in 2012.

But what are the benefits, and do they outweigh the costs?

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China’s State Oceanic Administration (SAO) announced on Thursday through a new report that sea levels off Shanghai and other Chinese coastal cities are rising at alarming levels. A prime example for the report pinpointed a rise of 196mm (7.72 inches) over the past three decades for the port city of Tianjin, 60 miles southeast of Beijing.

The SAO report, created by administration experts, shows that a combination of global climate change and the sinking of coast land due to the pumping of ground water were the two main causes for the rising water levels.

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Last year, at the China-US Conference on Climate Change, I noticed that when really pressed to answer for their horrible emissions records, both China and the US would just kind of point fingers at each other. It was still the “why should I clean up when I have a dirty neighbor?” mentality. Thankfully, this Cold War “you first; no, you first” mindset is starting to melt away faster than the ice caps.

In China’s first-ever paper on energy conditions, titled China’s Energy Conditions and Policies, the upcoming superpower has vowed to move forward with renewable, clean energy as a means of powering it’s tremendous economy. The paper is really less a comprehensive roadmap for the future than a vague update on China’s overall energy policies. Still, it serves as a promise of China’s dedication to reducing emissions.

Highlights from the paper include:

“China gives top priority to developing renewable energy.”

“China concentrates on research into the basic theories of … large-scale utilization of renewable energy.” Read the rest of this entry »