Glen Mills just forwarded this one:
Olympic nightmare: A red tide in the Yellow Sea
BEIJING: With less than six weeks before it plays host to the Olympic sailing regatta, the city of Qingdao has mobilized thousands of people and an armada of small boats to clean up an algae bloom that is choking large stretches of the coastline and threatening to impede the Olympic competition.
www.iht.com/.../china.php
Then there was this:
Olympics clean-up Chinese style: Inside Beijings shocking death camp for cats
Thousands of pet cats in Beijing are being abandoned by their owners and sent to die in secretive government pounds as China mounts an aggressive drive to clean up the capital in preparation for the Olympic Games.
www.dailymail.co.uk/.../Olympics-clean-Chinese-style-Inside-Beijings-shocking-death-camp-cats.html
This was early on, but it sounds like they will have as much as half the amount of cars on the road by banning all government workers from driving:
Olympians air a gripe about Beijing
March 12, 2008
Matt Reed was 1,500 meters into the last segment of the triathlon when he found himself gasping for oxygen. His legs were still pounding away at the pavement, his body pumped up after cruising through the swimming and cycling contests, but his lungs were shutting down.
The 32-year-old triathlete from Boulder, Colo., blames air pollution for triggering his asthma attack during the September track meet.
articles.latimes.com/.../fg-olyair12
You missed my point: the slaughter of "pets" is a question of cultural or personal issue. The U.S. doesn't slaughter cats, and India doesn't slaughter cattle. For the slaughtered animal, be it cat or cow the question is of life or death, it is all slaughter. Is a cat a "higher" and more deserving animal that cannot be slaughtered in comparison with a cow? Or a cute chicken? As for pollution, I wasn't referring to the pollution in each individual city or of the air over China, but to its contribution to global pollution, which is what affects us or me. As for drinking water and such, I don't get the connection between that and the Olympic games.
This thread is getting way too political for me. In fact being a member of the Anti Feline Slaughter Party (AFS) for short, I find it very offensive that the other side gets any discussion.
What happens if a Chinese person carries a flag through Tiananmen Square reading something along the lines of 'remember the Unknown Rebel'?
He would fast become A Rebel Without A Cause
www.youtube.com/watch
C'mon there isn't really any hope for this evil beast...no matter how much you like cats.
I don't see the problem with stray cats in Beijing... we could include them in the games in some new events.
"Cat Put" Sounds cruel but cats always land on their feet.
"1 man and 1 cat kayaking!" See how fast the kayaker paddles while the Cat goes nutso trying to get out of the hull via the easiest route.
"50m cat-on-back sprint" All out swim with the cat "surfing" So the Moggy will get soggy. If its really that dirty in Beijing the cat could use a bath anyhow.
"Cat-Lift" Weight lifters could hold an open tin of cat food in each hand above their heads and then a bunch of stray cats are let into the room...the winner would be scored by net weight of the cats multiplied by time holding arms aloft (not for the squeamish).
Relax, I'm just kidding.
Are you kidding? China's air and water are far dirtier than in the US.
Probably referring to some other metric reported recently. Like carbon emissions per capita...basically if you cut several "pollution" metrics (as broad as that is) per capita, the US is still up there because we have 1/4 the people as China but not 1/4 the production in each metric (necessarily). On absolute terms, I think the broad "pollution" aka "bad stuff" output is probably more for China in several categories. I'm sure it varies, and anyone wanting to make a point for/against US/China environmental practices can find examples in any direction.
We certainly don't have this problem...
Nearly 500 million people lack access to safe drinking water. Although, one might think otherwise based upon the consumption of bottled water in this country.
