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!!

The Island of Broken Dreams

I can’t seem to recall if people clapped or not when we landed in Havana airport. The guidebook described how visitors arriving in Havana by planes tend to spontaneously burst into cheery hoorays and heavy clapping for the simple fact of having arrived safely, in one piece. Many Cuban planes are as old as if not older than the revolution whose engines murmur grumpy sounds of being overworked. Nonetheless, millions of visitors come to Cuba every year and by the standards of the comfortably developed world, they and I are practically risking our lives for a glimpse of this secretive island.

Being so used to the stone face and suspicious eyes of US border patrol, I am always pleasantly surprised by the warmth of agents in other countries. My agent was clearly of Mestizo descend with mostly Afro-Carribean heritage. He had bright smiles and darkish brown skin. He saw me and spoke Mandarin. He told me he had studied it in University. Clearly intrigued, I nonetheless walked off hurriedly when the processing was done. You never know what few minutes of delay could lead to in border crossing. The atmosphere is always so intimidating and claustrophobic; one could not have any longing but that of getting out of there as quickly as you can catch your breath.

Here I am in the promise land of the Left. Castro’s revolution and its subsequent (or concurrent, depending on how sticky you are with words, policies of isolation) may have aroused many mixed feelings, heated discussions and even caused broken friendships, its accomplishment in garnering intense interests and debate is more than remarkable. Cuba used to be and could have been just another island brothel of Western decadence filled with pale fleshes lining up the beach coastline and underage spring breakers drinking their youth to oblivion (Think Baja). Instead, it has successfully established a more meaningful identity of its own – a socialist experiment fused by immense defiance and almost painful pride. Cubans may be poor, but they are educated. They may have restrictions but they are relaxed about life because all the basic necessities are taken care of. I arrived with all these preconceptions and I wanted to try to listen.


The notorious Malecon was filled with teenagers not doing anything at all. They followed foreigners and charm them for pocket money. I successfully avoided them for the most part because I am not White. But one teenager whom I kept running into with another American traveler of Indian descend found his way to latch onto me when I looked a little lost searching for the Havana Chinatown. He said he would help me find it. I thought I could practice my Spanish along the way. He got me to buying him soda and cigarettes and at some point, asked to look at my scarf and then wrapped it around himself and took off. I walked up and down the usual spots to find him in vain.

When I sat by the harbor, thinking about what life could have been for me if I was born on this island, my fellow travelers came around with their Cuban friends and gave me their insights. Life is hard but not unbearable, at least not for most, or some? Amongst them was a tall, slender and gorgeous Afro-Cuban man who struck up a conversation with me. He was a dancer and performed to tourist at a state owned cultural center. He was not happy. He graduated from university but did not like the job that was assigned to him. He refused to work and was sent to prison for two years. He spoke in a hushed but intense voice. As a sympathetic observer, I didn’t know what to say. But he quickly switched to a less controversial topic, Cuban man. He started by asking if I had dated Caribbean and proceeded to state that Cuban men are very good at sex. He used the usual parlance to convince me why I should have sex with him. I laughed it off and left with my friend.

(To Be Continued)

China Collage

 

"Detoxing" China's Huai river

Green Anhui is an established non-governmental organization based in Hefei, and with projects also in Bengbu and Wuhu, in central China’s Anhui Province. The organization’s mission is to promote environmental protection in Anhui province with a particular focus on the Huai River, a major source of water for the region.

In early 2006, as a part of the Huai River Protection Project, a group of Green Anhui volunteers traversed the Huai River identifying sources of pollution. Near Bengbu City, in north central Anhui, they came across a section of the river that was so polluted the stagnant water was red and blue. The volunteers were quickly able to identify the sources of this pollution--three chemical factories located in Qiugang village that were discharging dirty waste-water directly into the river. The volunteers reported their finding to Green Anhui staff Long Haizheng and he returned to the village for an investigation.

Long began by talking to local villagers in Qiugang about their living condition, and people came pouring with grievances. There were complaints of bad odors and toxic waters that were presumed to be killing farmland and infecting livestock. Villagers had to cover their mouths when they passed by the river, and primary schools located nearby had students getting sick with nausea and nose bleeds. In a village of eighteen hundred people, more than 10 people in their prime years reportedly died from cancers or unidentified causes every year. Many villagers believed these deaths were in fact slow poisonings from the surrounding chemical factories. The villagers’ eagerness for attention and action inspired Long and Green Anhui to embark on a campaign that generated ripple effects far beyond what had imagined.

Bengbu is a port city on the Huai River and a major commercial center for Anhui province with double-digit GDP growth in 2007. When Green Anhui launched its Huai River Protection Project in 2003, water pollution in the region was already widespread. Anhui Province’s longest river, the Huai supports approximately 50 million people and countless industries. Its condition has worsened so dramatically over the years that people started calling it “the dead river”. In Bengbu, there was no organized voice to call for change; and this is where Green Anhui came into the picture.

Green Anhui brought their volunteers to the village and swept the place for information, photos and testimonies. They then pitched the story to journalists who had worked with them in the past. The story exposed three chemical factories, Jiucailuo Chemical Ltd, Haichuan Chemical Ltd and Zuguang Microchemical Ltd. They are the three largest chemical factories located in and around Qiugang Village, on the outskirts of Bengbu City. Of the three, Jiucailuo is the worst offender, with no waste treatment procedure at all. The other two companies have waste treatment facilities, but they are inadequate and well below Chinese Ministry of Environmental Affairs’ standards.

These three companies made the village literally unlivable by tainting the local water supply. Research done by Green Anhui found that the village’s drinking water had an excessive level of sediments and chemicals and that it was not suitable for consumption. With Green Anhui’s support in March of 2007, villagers submitted petitions to the local Environmental Protection Bureau and fingerprinted their names in red ink. As part of a writing assignment, forty students wrote letters to the EPB urging them to clean up the river.

Following this action by the villagers of Qiugang, several stories ran in the Xinan Evening News and on Xinhua Net on the incident. Meanwhile, the Bengbu Environmental Protection Bureau (EPB) went from denying any violations, to publically validating the villagers’ claims on television interviews. The EPB eventually sent investigators to conduct random inspections on the factories and confirmed that they were in violation of the law. Two factories were ordered to pay a fine of 100,000 RMB (15,000 USD), and one was told to reduce their waste. Unfortunately, the fine is a small price to pay for companies like Jiucailuo which has annual revenue of 6 billion dollars.

By the end of 2007, following the actions of the villagers and the flurry of press reports, the Qiugang Village incident garnered the attention of the Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP). MEP ordered the three factories to shut down and clean up, but the order was ignored by the companies. At various points, MEP used the newly-enacted Green Credit Policy to suspend loans to these companies and the local government even cut off electricity in order to halt their operations. The EPB renewed an order that mandated these companies to shut down by December of 2008. However, an update from September 2008 on the Bengbu EPB website states that the agency has increased their monitoring of these factories and that the situation has improved.

It is still unclear whether or not these three polluters will in fact be shut down and forced to move by the end of the year. The community in Qiugang is not sure if their waterways and livelihoods will be restored. Green Anhui will continue to work on this campaign, supporting Qiugang and other communities impacted by pollution along China’s rivers.

Remembering Misha the affable long beared Environmentalist and lovely friend.

The unofficial version:
Misha is one of those old friends I would invite to my "hipster" party.
He was affable and funny, always ready to listen and empathize. At my first Salmon bbq and I introduced him to Sanjay as the Russian outlaw, which drew a big laugh from him. In the brief time that i know him, I've come to really adore his hearty laugh and long beard.
He went on a self imposed exile in the Russian far east for a simple life and a committed fight for the environment and indigenous rights and was unfortunately put into a forced exile by the Russian bureaucracy back to the US where he had to be separated from his family.
The day he left the office for Mongolia, Friday September 5, he came by my office and shyly said Good Bye and that hopefully next time he will get to come with us to China. On second thought, I got up and wrapped my arms around him and gave him a big hug, the third person in my new office/new job whom I have befriended and felt comfortable enough to give a hug to. Unfortunately it was the last time I would ever see Misha. He went for a swim in an island off of Thailand while vacationing with his wife whom he hadn't seen in almost a year and never came back.

Dearest Misha, good bye and I hope you are resting in peace which I am sure you are because of your kindness and open heart.


The official version:
Misha Jones is Pacific Environment's Russia Program Specialist and has lived in Russia since 1986. In addition, he consults on biodiversity conservation and economic development programs and is working with Russian and international groups to promote socially and environmentally responsible mining. He works with Russia's indigenous community and in the last decade has assisted the Russian Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North (RAIPON) with its programs throughout Russia. Mr. Jones is an associate editor at the Center for the Protection of Wild Nature "Zov Taigi" and co-director of Staff Ink, an internet information network serving clients worldwide. He is fluent in Russian.