The “Back Valley” and the “#1 Glacier”

Hou Valley and #1 Glacier

This is a photo slideshow of our visit to Xinjiang last year. We took a day trip to visit the Hou Valley, located along one of the most scenic highways that lead to the #1 Glacier in China. The valley is not as well known as it should be for its secret industry of lime, coal, cement and electrical transformers.

In early 2000, a series of news stories broke the silence on Hou Valley’s secret engine of industrial pollution. The government of Xinjiang suddenly “realized” that one of the biggest and the only fully state-owned enterprise Huanpeng Limited has turned Xinjiang’s mother river Urumqi River black. As a source of water for the capital city’s 3 million people, this was a big deal. The company then allegedly spent an estimated 50 million RMB (about 7.5 Million dollars) to clean up its operations.

We came here with Tian Leilei, a staff of our local partner Xinjiang Conservation Fund and Teacher Xiang from one of Xinjiang’s most prestigious high school. Tian Leilei has begun doing some research and investigation into the Hou Valley’s infamous industry, its impacts on the inhabitants and the river that carries all of its wastes. He mentioned one trip he took with a foreign visitor to this valley, who was so horrified by the bad air and dirty water that he refused to have lunch in the Hou Valley town’s restaurants. For many years now, Teacher Xiang has also been bringing her students here on environmental projects to learn about the valley and its many challenges. The students were often shocked by the level of pollutions and sadden by the powerlessness of the locals regarding their situation.

As we looked out the window during our bumpy ride, we notice the river was no longer gray. It was nonetheless much more tamed compared to its former days, according to our hosts. We noticed several water diversion projects along the road and small dams that have practically grounded the river to a halt in some sections. When we got out of the van, we smelt various chemicals and walked in a cloud of grayness with no end in sight. The few people who were willing to talk to us were workers of the company and didn’t have much to say about the pollution, but merely that “it’s much better now”.

After the Hou Valley, we visited the Heavenly Mountain Glacial Research and Observatory station en route to the #1 Glacier, the first glacier ever to be studied in China. A young and earnest geologist gave us a tour of the exhibition center. Amidst all the heavily scientific-based graphics and diagrams of the center’s research, one fact caught my eyes. This station was established in 1959 and 45 years after its first documented record, the Number One Glacier had retreated by a remarkable length of 11 meters. It is retreating faster every year, according to our young tour guide.

The most ideal “false solutions” to Climate Change?

Last night I attended an interesting panel discussion on Climate Change. The organizations represented were Global Anti-Incineration Alliance, International Rivers, International Forum on Globalization and Rainforest Action Network. The panelists were reporting back from attending the first round of international negotiations that took place last December in Poznan, Poland.

Below are some key points that were discussed:

- Who should pay for it?
o Developing countries, led by India and China, are stressing the need for developed economies like the U.S. and Europe to provide the capital needed to invest in green technologies in the developing world. The argument that the U.S., and Europe created the climate crisis we are living in today through their hundreds of years of industrialization. While the developing world is growing fast and catching up in their level of emissions, they simply do not have the capital nor the responsibility (as the argument implies) to abandon fast, cheap and polluting methods of growth to remedy a situation they did not create.

- False solutions:
o Carbon offsets allow polluters in the industrial world to take advantage of loopholes by claiming offsets based on sustainable projects that would have taken place anyway.
o Cap & Trade is a false solution because it does not involve forcing polluters to cease known bad practices like the use of coal, or clean coal and biofuel, etc.

- Grassroots actions:
o A slideshow was presented with images from grassroots protests that took place during these negotiations. They demonstrated how grassroots protest could help sway climate negotiations toward adopting more real and sustainable solutions.

These panelists brought up important points about the flaws of the various solutions to Climate Change that have been put forward in various negotiations and resulting treaties. What I personally found interesting was the fact that I am currently reading an article in the Mother Jones about how “cap and trade” is our one chance to establish a solution that could be agreed upon by different parties, including industry groups and that the system has been proven successful as a model similar to the one based on the “Clean Air Act”.

I am inclined to think no solutions are perfect and without negative repercussions. Climate Change is such a global issue involving so many players/countries with different sets of challenges, we have to be aware that whatever solutions we are putting forward will likely go through a very intense and grueling process of international debates and consensus-reaching. I think we are better off building on best practices than to imagine an ideal world based on ideal solutions.

SHOUTS: America, it is time to grow up

Congress is debating several new legislation related to Cuba. One allowing for travel and another more sweeping one seeking to mostly end the embargo.

I say: It is time to end the Cuban embargo.

Many have now agreed that the embargo has failed. Cuba is still a one party dictatorship; Cubans still do not have any more freedom than they did before the embargo. In fact, the policy lost the one thing that it won before - the support of the Cuban people.

Cuban people lament the lack of freedom but they attribute it to the embargo. The United States of America basically said, ” we don’t agree with your government and nobody else can either”. It is like the most powerful tough kid in the school saying that he does not like your personality, and therefore, the rest of the students can not play with you”.

The reality is, the Cuban regime has relied on the embargo to maintain its legitimacy to dictatorship and control of freedom. Exile Cubans or foreigners can not come in because they could be spies or American-trained invaders. Cubans can not leave because…well there was never a good argument other than the fact that it is embarrassing for the regime.

Therefore, once the embargo is removed, it loses any argument it ever had for restricting the movement of Cubans, both on and off the island.

Neither China nor Soviet Union’s brand of socialism failed because of an embargo. The self-destructions of their political projects demonstrated a failure that is more than self-explanatory, and so does the Cuban Embargo.

It is about time for the tough kid to grow up, especially since the rest of the kids have already started playing with the poor kid!!