Environment China

环保和记者是天然的盟友。环境记者这个行当在中国存在的时间还不是特别久，近年来，在越来越多的记者的见证和记录下，环境问题的曝光率和关注度越来越高。今天的环境中国播客，让我们来听听环境记者的故事。在中国做环境记者是一种什么样的体验呢？石毅是澎湃新闻的一名记者。她从2014年开始关注环境议题，报道涉及生物多样性保护、气候变化、野生物犯罪调查等。她对新疆卡拉麦里违规调减保护区面积的报道推动了保护区的整改；过去2年，她关注中国人和中国企业在非洲投资所引起的环境问题，报道了中国人在纳米比亚涉及象牙贸易，在刚果金涉嫌非法伐木。 2016年，她获得中外对话年度最佳环境记者奖。

In recent years, more and more environmental issues were exposed to the public through the documentation by environmental journalist, a profession that’s relatively new in China. In today’s Environment China Podcast, let’s hear the stories from a Chinese environmental journalist. Shi Yi works for 澎湃新闻 (www.thepaper.cn). Since 2014, she broke the news on topics such as biodiversity, climate change, wild animal poaching, etc. Her investigation has pushed forward the protection of Xinjiang Kalamaili Mountain Ungulate Nature Reserve, which won her the 2016 Best Environmental Journalist Award by China Dialogue. In the last 2 years, she has also investigated the environmental issues caused by Chinese and Chinese enterprises in Africa, such as ivory trade in Namibia and illegal lumbering in Congo.

China has a lot of dams – about 87,000 of them — and has almost one half of the world’s large dams, including the largest, the Three Gorges Dam. So it shouldn’t be a surprise that China’s hydro companies were among the first wave of Chinese companies to zou chu qu -- to "go out” from China in the early 2000s. But while hydroelectric plants represent a source of non-fossil energy, they are also often associated with ecological and social disruption. 

In this episode, we chat with Stephanie Jensen-Cormier, China Program Director at International Rivers, about the progress being made by Chinese hydropower companies to minimize environmental impacts domestically and abroad. She has almost ten years of experience working on and researching environmental and China-related issues and is also a long-time member of the Beijing Energy Network. You can read more about Stephanie’s reflections on Chinese overseas hydropower investment in a recent blog post she authored here.

And exciting news — Stephanie’s team is hiring for consultant and intern positions! Please visit the International Rivers website to access the JDs and contact Stephanie if you’re interested in joining the International Rivers team.

近些年来食品安全问题常常见诸报端。人们在思考其背后的原因的同时，也在试图寻找解决方案。今天参与我们对话的嘉宾是绿色和平东亚办公室食品与农业项目组的王婧。过去几年来，王婧和她同事们活跃在环保与生态农业圈，从事食品安全问题研究，倡导现代生态农业在中国的发展。本期节目中，她从政府、企业、农业生产者和普通消费者的不同角度分析了如何推动食品安全体系的建立，同时结合自身的经历介绍了生态农业在中国的发展现状和面临的问题。王婧亦是一名资深生态美食达人，是“吃货拯救世界”微信公众号的主要撰稿人，通过微信平台定期向大家推荐生态食材，推广生态农业和环境保护的理念。搜索chihuozhengjiushijie即可关注。

We are delighted to have Wang Jing from Greenpeace East Asia to share her work experience in the field of food and agriculture in this episode. We have learned the reasons behind food safety incidents and discussed the role of central and local government, business, farmers and consumers can play in addressing the issue. Jing has also shared some of her most exciting and interesting stories on organic farming. She also runs a WeChat public account (吃货拯救世界) on great organic food. Please search chihuozhengjiushijie to follow her.

During the recent international climate talks in Bonn, Environment China partnered with chinadialogue to produce an episode on China’s Belt and Road in the context of the climate conference.

China’s Belt and Road Initiative, an overseas investment and development framework that has grown to include 68 countries, has taken centre stage in the discussion about how to direct investments away from carbon-intensive industries to clean and sustainable technologies. In this episode, representatives from non-governmental organisations and government officials from the Philippines, Pakistan, and Zambia, weigh in on what the Belt and Road means for climate action overseas.

The episode then turns to Sam Geall, executive editor at chinadialogue, to learn how China’s Belt and Road Initiative, as well as South-South Climate Cooperation, fit into its emerging role on the international climate stage. Sam discusses how China can improve its approach to overseas finance to bring investments in line with the goals of the Paris Agreement.

网购和外卖极大地便利了我们的生活，但快递包装所消耗的资源和带来的垃圾却是一场生态浩劫。本期环境中国的嘉宾余元过着一种没有网购和外卖的“原始”生活，今天她来给大家讲讲她“不剁手”的极简生活方式。

余元 (Carrie) 是一位在北京创业的武汉女孩。她酷爱户外活动，崇尚极简主义。在践行极简生活方式的旅程中，她认识到了零浪费（zero waste)的生活方式，并创办了自己的社会企业The Bulk House/好思。在北京，余元主办了大大小小的工作坊和分享活动来倡导零浪费的生活方式，如果您对她的活动感兴趣，请关注“ TheBulkHouse好思出品”公众号。

The booming e-commerce is great news for China, but less so when it comes to the impact of waste packaging on the environment. In today’s environment China, our guest speaker Carrie will share the experience of her “old fashioned” lifestyle without any online shopping or food delivery.

Carrie Yu (余元) is the founder of The Bulk House, a brand dedicated to making “zero waste” convenient for everyone through content, events and providing environmentally friendly products. Her minimalism life style was triggered after being fed up of seeing piles of trash dotted around the streets of Beijing. Carrie hosts various workshops and sharing events in Beijing to promote zero waste lifestyle. If you are interested in learning more about Carrie’s events, please subscribe to her wechat channel “TheBulkHouse好思出品”.

Episode 2 of 3 of our miniseries on COP23 in Bonn, Germany. Our Chinese-language episodes will be returning in the following week.

 

Maybe you’ve heard of the Paris Agreement, the Kyoto Protocol, or even the ignominious Copenhagen summit. But only the most selfless, committed among us stay tuned-in to the UN climate negotiations through the thrice-a-year intersessional meetings.

 

During the final days of COP23 in Bonn, Germany, we chat with Li Shuo, an international climate negotiation expert at Greenpeace East Asia, to hear about the inglorious work of parsing through the fine print of UN negotiation text. Li Shuo explains the state of the UN climate negotiations in the post-Paris Agreement, post-Trump era, and describes the full-body, pound-shedding, caffeine-fueled commitment needed to engage in UN climate advocacy, running from meeting to meeting.

 

One last note: we had a hard time finding a quiet place to record at the COP23 conference; apologies to our audience for the technical difficulties and "ghost-like" sounds in this episode.

BONUS Episode from Environment China!

How many cops does it take to screw in a climate lightbulb? At least 23? This last week, Bonn, Germany, hosted the 23rd "Conference of the Parties" (COP23) -- the latest iteration of the UN climate negotiations that have dragged on since the early 1990s. 

 

Over two weeks, as national delegations from around the world try to hammer down the technical details of the Paris Agreement, tens of thousands of people -- researchers, activists, politicians, journalists, celebrities -- flock to Bonn to take part in the biggest climate event of the year. 

 

But what exactly is all this COP fuss about? In this COP miniseries, we'll be taking a dive into the weeds of the negotiations and the role of China on the international climate stage. But first, we're taking you behind the scenes at the UN climate talks, to hear a cross-section of voices, some young, some old, calling for urgent climate action.

Which company has a greener supply chain in China: Apple or Dell? Mobike or Ofo? Puma or Nike?     China is often referred to as the “workshop of the world,” producing around a quarter of the world’s manufacturing output by value. But along with China’s rapid industrialization and modernization have come grave environmental impacts — the result, in part, of a “pollute first, clean up later” mindset. To address supply chain environmental impacts resulting from the globalization of trade, the Institute of Public & Environmental Affairs (IPE), a local NGO based in Beijing, is leveraging information transparency and corporate responsiveness to brand reputation.     Environment China chats with IPE’s green supply chain project manager, Helen Ding, about how IPE applies its Blue Map Database of corporate environmental violation records to push major brands to improve the transparency and environmental performance of their supply chains in China. Helen discusses IPE’s Corporate Information Transparency Index  (CITI) rankings of over 250 major multinational and Chinese companies, as well recent investigations into China’s growing shared bicycle industry, among other related topics. Listeners interested in learning more can check out the CITI rankings and annual report on IPE’s website (http://wwwen.ipe.org.cn/GreenSupplyChain/CITI.aspx), or watch a short PBS feature on IPE’s green supply work.

垃圾是人们生产和生活消费的必然产物。近年来，中国城市和农村人们生活水平的提高对垃圾处理容量带来了巨大的挑战。垃圾处理系统就好比是家庭的卫生间，直接决定着我们的健康、卫生和生活质量。 从垃圾处理水平最高的国家和地区的经验来看，无论使用多么先进的技术来焚烧、填埋或者堆肥，源头的垃圾减量和有效回收才是处理垃圾问题的关键。我们的嘉宾陈立雯是一名一线的环保工作者，她从国外留学归来之后扎根在中国农村，帮助村民建立起了垃圾分类的生态管理系统。今天的节目中她会为大家分享她在南峪村实施垃圾分类项目的故事、感悟以及她对中国垃圾问题的洞见。如果您有兴趣进一步了解立雯的实地项目，您可以关注“东西异同”微信公众号。以下链接是CCTV新闻周刊对立雯项目的报道http://tv.cctv.com/2017/09/09/VIDEmAgmEInNAzkwABSZ3uzW170909.shtml

Waste is an inevitable result of human consumption. In recent years, both municipal and rural waste management are challenged by the sheer volume of waste that is still rapidly growing. The waste disposal system directly affects the hygiene, health, and well-being of our lives. Based on international experiences, no matter how advanced the incineration, landfill, or composting technologies would be, it is crucial to manage the waste generation and recycling. Our guest today is CHEN Liwen, an environmental practitioner from China. After studying abroad, she returned to China and started her waste management project in Chinese villages, where she helped to build the sustainable waste management systems. In today’s podcast, Liwen will share her stories and insights based on her experience from the Nanyu village, Hebei Province of China. If you are interested in Liwen’s projects, please subscribe to her Wechat channel “东西异同” (in Chinese). Here is another report on Liwen’s project by CCTV (in Chinese). http://tv.cctv.com/2017/09/09/VIDEmAgmEInNAzkwABSZ3uzW170909.shtml 

Over the past 50 years, overfishing has caused China’s domestic catch to shift from a focus on high-value, mature fish to catching massive numbers of low-value fish. The smallest and most juvenile of these are often referred to as ‘trash fish,’ as they’re too small for human consumption — and they account for nearly a third of China’s total catch, according to a recent Greenpeace report. But because there is also a growing industry of turning trash fish into feed for fish and livestock, solving China's 'trash fish' challenge isn’t so simple.     In this episode, we talk with Zhou Wei and Yang Yi, Ocean Campaigners at Greenpeace East Asia and two of the main authors of Greenpeace’s trash fish report. We explore what exactly 'trash fish' means, how overfishing of China’s domestic fisheries resources has played a role in causing the current trash fish problem, and some of the solutions that Greenpeace recommends to ameliorate this, er, 'fishy' problem.     Listeners can access the report and press release on Greenpeace’s website here, or view this short explainer video to get an overview of the report’s content. And if you’re interested in checking out the sustainable seafood guide mentioned in the episode, you can access it here.