Beijing

Beijing is "trying it's best to improve the environment" for the Olympics, largely by shutting down factories. But to really improve the environment in Beijing in the long term the government will need to focus on a much smaller but more prevalent carbon and particulate emitter: the car.
In the past, the city hasn't shown much interest in lowering the subsidy on gasoline or limiting cars, which, in a typically Chinese conflict of interest, are largely produced by state-owned companies. But last month, in a reflection o...

Video by Martin Connolly

The other day, as my roommate and I were on our way to sell a load of plastic bottles and paper boxes to our local recycling man, we were stopped by one of our vigilant neighbors. "Whoa, he's not there! He won't be back for two months!" Th...

Combine rising fuel costs with escalating security concerns in China, and this makes perfect sense -- kind of: ahead of the Olympics, a Chinese anti-terror team has recently been training on specially-outfitted Segways, the electric, gyro-balanced scooters that are more commonly seen zipping across Silicon Valley campuses.

The scooters, which claim a top speed of 12.5 km/hour and which inventor Dean Kamen billed as nearly impossible to tip-over (George W. didn't get that memo) will also be used by officials and sec...

Image from angus_mac_123

We've all seen the length to which China has gone in order to burnish its environmental credentials ahead of the Olympics. Whether it be building sparkling new sustainable facilities for the Games or "forcing" good weather through unconventional means, China has been doing its utmost to ensure it not be perceived as eco-insensitive. The big question, however, remains: Will it stay green?

In their ongoing attempt to clear the air before the Olympics, Beijing officials have turned their sights to the country's most common kind of smokestack: the cigarette. Today, they instituted a city-wide ban that aims to cut it out in public places. As the above video reminds us, they'll need all the luck they can get.

Like bans on high-emission vehicles, plastic bags, big dogs, and virtually anything, rules don't exactly dictate reality, especially in a place where cigarettes...

In a country where 5.2 million cars were bought last year, and where "environmental protection" is a major buzz word, you might think that the Chinese have been ramping up their cheap, domestic-made hybrid cars. Nope. The only hybrids currently available are Japanese, the Toyota Prius and the Honda Civic. And while they're assembled in China, importing the parts from Japan means heavy taxes, which means that these cars costs double in China than what they do in the US. That's why only 417 Priuses were sold in China last year.

Then, at the Beijing auto show last week, GM got lots of press for announcing it would sell its new hybrid in C...

When the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) announced its first National Goodwill Ambassador to promote environmental responsibility yesterday, they picked the right person: actress Zhou Xun. Sure, Zhou has green cred -- she turns off the tap while brushing, she prefers bikes to SUVs, and she urges her film crews to use reusable chopsticks, she says. But more importantly, she's Chinese.
In a country where the rheto...

Dezeenjobs: Steven Holl Architects has opportunities for internships in their New York and Beijing offices: (more…)