Tag:China
First, I’d like to apologise for my lack of posts recently. I am on the road in Japan at the moment, shooting an assignment and trying not to get caught up in Typhoon Francisco which is currently descending on the south east of the country. While I have been out of China, it seems that some of the worst smog in recent memory hit the city of Harbin. The scenes in these pictures are quite amazing. It looks like PM […]
My new eBook, Meltdown: China’s Environment Crisis, continues to spread through news outlets and was picked up by the Wall Street Journal last week. I was excited to see this publication as the WSJ decided to cover the project with a slideshow and video interview which you can watch above. Below is the introductory text on the WSJ about the project: Summer snowstorms, foul air pollution, litter-choked waterways, grasslands turning to desert – these are just some of the challenges […]
China is growing fast and, as it grows, it is faced with urgent environmental challenges. Climate change, species loss, pollution, water scarcity and environment damage are not problems confined to one country: they are challenges that concern all the world’s citizens, but the rise of China gives them a new urgency. Tackling these challenges will require a common effort and common understanding. Here at chinadialogue we aim to promote that common understanding. chinadialogue is devoted to the publication of high […]
This week, the Woodrow Wilson Center’s New Security Beat blog kindly featured my new eBook, MELTDOWN: China’s Environment Crisis, and interviewed me about its production. Please find below an excerpt of the interview. Make sure to visit their excellent website which is dedicated to environment and security issues. China is one of the world’s 12 “mega-biodiversity” countries, but its incredible natural landscapes, from Sichuan’s sparkling, turquoise-colored lakes to Guilin’s dramatic karst topography, are bearing the cost of rapid economic development, […]
I do live where the air can kill you. Actually, I think I am based in the capital of cities where the air can kill you. Beijing. According to this map released by NASA, China’s capital isn’t the only city however that suffers from air pollution levels so severe that they pose a major health risk to those that live under the grey skies which regularly envelop them. According to NASA: “The map above shows the model estimate of the […]
The text below is an adapted excerpt from MELTDOWN: Climate Change on the Tibetan Plateau, featured on UTNE Reader this week. There are some places in the world where you don’t want to get a flat tire. The middle of China’s vast Taklamakan Desert—with no cell phone coverage and no hint of civilization—is one of them. So when we got our second flat tire on our trek, we started to worry a little. We were suddenly a wheel short and […]
Delighted to share with you the news of a recent guest blog post that I contributed to the National Geographic website, in their News Watch section. The post is titled “5 Myths about China and the Environment” and highlights some of the misconceptions about China’s environmental issues that I’ve come across over the years covering these issues. Below is the first one. Myth 1. Reintroduction of the Giant Panda Into the Wild Has Been a Success Natural forests cover about […]
A quick post today to say thanks to the folks at Mongabay for featuring excerpts from my new eBook on their website this week. If you’re not aware already, Mongabay is a wonderful resource for all the latest news and stories related to the natural world. If it’s not a bookmark in your browser, it should be. Here’s an excerpt from the post: “With soaring mountains and vast grasslands, the Tibetan Plateau covers approximately one quarter of China. The plateau’s […]
– This incredible footage of a mudslide was caught via a dashboard camera in Taiwan yesterday. It seems this area of the island had been suffering from some severe weather recently, resulting in the slipping of a major piece of earth. This one driver had a VERY close call. Keep an eye out 3 seconds into the video at the top of the mountain, for a clue what’s about to come. Mudslides are a mixture of water, soil and rock, […]
I’m very pleased to share with you the news of the imminent arrival of a new multimedia eBook, titled MELTDOWN, produced by the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting. We’ve been working on this for the past 6 months, bringing together 6 years of my work covering environmental issues in China. The result of 10,000+ miles of travel, the book will combine photography, video, multimedia and essays from all corners of the country, that will immerse the reader in the story […]