One of the many joys of travel within China is its eating opportunities, available in ornate banquet halls and provided by street vendors all over the cities. Well, perhaps that was one of the perks. It turns out that as many as 1 in 10 meals in China is cooked with reused cooking oil.
Rapid population growth and industrialization have exacted huge tolls on the Yangtze. The natural forest cover has fallen by two-thirds over the past 50 years, and resulted in the slippage of over 680 million tons of mud into the river. Coca-Cola and the WWF are trying to reverse this disturbing trend.
For a generation, we have enjoyed everything from cashmere sweaters to smartphones, with the assumption that because of China’s 1.3 billion people, there would always be an endless supply of cheap labor. But there’s a huge price tag–even if a huge pond separates us from China.
Up to now, when visiting Shanghai, you would see the locals walking around in pajamas. No, not the Victoria’s Secret version, nor were they colorful Old Navy night garb: these were often patterned sets worn by your father or grandfather, in cotton or polyester, and if you remember the 1970s, you’d be taken back to that decade because you really hadn’t seen them since then. But now they are on their way out.
Aaron Pattillo and Julian Wilson founded Khunu, a men’s knitwear company with offices in China and Colorado, last year. During a trip to Tibet in December 2008, the pair, frozen at 16,000 feet above sea level, learned about the virtues of yak wool from their Tibetan guides. The chance meeting has evolved into a company, combining sustainability, economic reward, and quite bluntly, rather cool (er, very warm) clothing.
I’ve already discussed DME (dimethyl ether), as a huge potential fuel source. Most renewable energy advocates have never heard of it, but there’s vast potential for it. DME burns cleanly, gives off no particulates, and is readily available since it is a byproduct of coal extraction, natural gas production, and can be poached from biomass. [...]
When one thinks of China, “green” does not come into mind, unless it’s the 50 yuan note, or the algae that often infests its water: by most accounts, two-thirds of China’s rivers and lakes are contaminated. Most of the nation’s electricity needs come from coal, a scary prospect from a nation of over one billion [...]
Assuming that battery technology is a panacea for our current energy woes is ignoring one side affect: the toxicity, energy and expense racked up from extracting the materials that allow the battery to work.
Newer generations of batteries generally use lithium ion technology, and as companies manufacture more and more batteries, these same companies are demanding [...]
One theme I want to make clear in this site is that nerds are cool. There’s nothing wrong with learning about technology, the world, politics, and giving a darn. Remember Bill Gates? He made mod-nerd-ity cool.
There’s another nerd who deserves mention. She recycles, she buys scrap, and she has, by some accounts become the richest [...]
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