China is the world’s biggest manufacturer of renewable energy equipment and is making plans for how to dispose of it once it stops working

China, the world’s biggest renewable equipment manufacturer, will set up a recycling system for ageing wind turbines and solar panels as it tries to tackle the growing volumes of waste generated by the industry, the state planner said.

China has ramped up its wind and solar manufacturing capabilities in a bid to decarbonise its economy and ease its dependence on coal, and it is now on track to meet its goal to bring total wind and solar capacity to 1,200 gigawatts (GW) by 2030, up from 758 GW at the end of last year.

But as older projects are replaced and decommissioned, waste volumes are set to soar, with large amounts of capacity already approaching retirement age, posing big environmental risks.

To cope with the challenge, China will draw up new industrial standards and rules detailing the proper ways to decommission, dismantle and recycle wind and solar facilities, the National Development and Reform Commission, said on Wednesday.

The state planning agency said that China would have a “basically mature” full-process recycling system for wind turbines and solar panels by the end of the decade.

Photovoltaic (PV) panels have a lifespan of around 25 years, and many of China’s projects are already showing significant signs of wear and tear, China’s official Science and Technology Daily newspaper said in June.

The paper cited experts as saying that China would need to recycle 1.5 million metric tons of PV modules by 2030, rising to around 20 million tons in 2050.

The problem of waste from the renewable energy sector has become a growing global concern. Total waste from solar projects alone could reach 212 million tons a year by 2050, according to one scenario drawn up by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) last year.

Despite Beijing’s sponge city project, the capital was overwhelmed by recent floods with dozens dying and a new “sponge airport” shut down

Recent devastating floods in Beijing have put China’s drive to create “sponge cities” which can handle extreme rain to the test.

Since 2013, China has been trying to make cities like Beijing more flood-proof by replacing roads, pavements and rooftops with natural materials like soil that soak up water and by giving more space to water bodies like lakes to absorb stormwater.

But despite these measures, massive amounts of rainfall in recent weeks caused floods which killed at least 33 people, destroyed tens of thousands of homes and shut down the Chinese capital’s second busiest airport.

Experts told Climate Home the flooding shows the limited progress China has made on its plan to invest $1 trillion into sponge cities by 2030 – with the city still largely concrete. Sponge airport overwhelmed

Even new infrastructure, build with the sponge city concept in mind, could not cope with the rains.

Daxing airport opened a few months before the Covid-19 pandemic. Its builders described it as a “sponge airport” as it was equipped with plants on its roof, a huge wetland and an artificial lake the size of over 1,000 Olympic swimming pools.

Despite these measures, the runways flooded on July 30 and it had to cancel over 50 flights.

Waters diverted

The government tried to collect the rain in 155 reservoirs in the Hai River Basin, but the measure proved ineffective in controlling the deluge.

About 50 years ago, the basin –a natural sponge–was locked with embankments and reservoirs to manage the water flow.

In recent years though, these structures have made flooding worse as climate change has increased the frequency and intensity of extreme rainfall. These structures lead to overflow, collapse and the authorities have blown them up to ease flooding.

Reuters reported that flood waters locked in reservoirs were diverted to low-lying populated land in Zhuozhuo, a small city around 80km from Beijing, to flush out the stormwater from the country’s national capital.

Residents of Zhuozhou were angry at the government’s response, Reuters reported. The government reacted by shutting down criticism on social media. More work needed

Experts argued that these problems show that, rather than abandoning the sponge city project, China and Beijing need to double down and make them better.

Kongjian Yu is the founder of Turenscape, a company involved in the project. He said that just “maybe 1% or 10%” of the city has been converted to a sponge city.

The government’s target is 20% by 2030. “We have a long way to go,” he said.

Yu added that sponge cities are worth doing not just because they control floods but for managing droughts and refilling groundwater supplies too.

Tony Wong, professor of sustainable development at Monash University, said that progress was always going to be slow as “it takes a long time and a lot of money” to convert a city like Beijing, with lots of people and concrete buildings crammed into a small area, into a sponge city.

More work is needed, says Wong, because Beijing and many other cities lack effective urban planning, and there is no provision for a safe channeling of extreme floodwater.

“What the city needs is the inclusion of green corridors, just like Singapore – another high-density city- has done to transport excess stormwater into low-lying areas to prevent loss of lives and property.”

If China pulls this off it could become an example for many developing countries with high-density cities struggling to control urban flooding, added Wong.

Here’s a summer story you never knew you needed: an 1895 article by Eugene Debs waxing poetic about bicycles, which he said would “liberate millions” and bring “the enrapturing panorama of nature” to all.

The mission of the bicycle is greatly underrated. Human ingenuity, in evolving the bicycle, has given man a mighty boon. It is to play a great part in the world’s affairs. It is to liberate millions from the thralldom of foul atmosphere, squalid and filthy apartments, and all the multiplicity of debauching and demoralizing conditions that make the lives of workingmen and women in manufacturing and commercial centers a continuous curse. It is to be an important factor in depopulating cities and building up the country.

It will be a mighty leveler upward and downward. The bicycle will attack the fabulous value of city real estate, distribute population, lower rent, close up the tenement den, and extinguish the sweatshop hell. It will free the inhabitants of cities from the fetid odors their overcrowded conditions generate and pour a perpetual flood of fresh air upon the race. As a matter of course working people will have them and the man who trudges to his daily toil will be an object for a relief commission.

The limits of an interview will admit only the merest glimpse of the possibilities of the bicycle. The great health-giving advantages of fresh air and exercise, will by the fiat of the bicycle, be the heritage of the race. The bicycle, not the medical profession, will triumph over disease. The wheel is on the trail of Consumption and will overtake and vanquish the remorseless destroyer. Men and women and children will all ride the bicycle and the enrapturing panorama of nature will no longer be forbidden glories to most of the race.

Of course, the bicycle is yet in embryo. The wheel of the future will revolve to suit man’s fancy and the variety, design, and capacity will be practically without limit. And when monopoly and special privilege are abolished, the bicycle may be purchased for a song and will be within the reach of all. The world will yet revolve on wheels.

https://inthesetimes.com/article/chex-and-balances-comics-labor-inequality-politics

Why did they put the fruit loops in his beard though

Locals in Grande Comore island mobilised to rescue a 10-ton baby humpback whale stranded near the port of Moroni. With rudimentary means but much effort, they managed to keep the baby whale alive until it could move back into the Indian Ocean.

Two humpback whales – a female adult and its calf - were stranded in Kaleweni bay, near the port of Moroni, in Grande Comore island. While the mother managed to swim back offshore, into the Indian Ocean, the calf was left stranded in the bay, at low tide.

Professional divers, coast guards, fishermen, policemen, volunteers, all mobilised efforts throughout Sunday to keep the stressed whale alive.

“We only had our arms and will-power to help the calf while it was stranded in the bay,” said Nazir Farid, the head of Comores Plongée, a local diving company.

“We had to continuously pour water on it to keep it alive because it was low tide in the bay. We used water pumps, buckets, our hands to do so, from early morning till around midday when the tide rose again.”

Southern Hemisphere humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) migrate each year from Antarctic feeding grounds to tropical areas where they gather for breeding.

“They travel from the South Pole, off the coasts of South Africa, Mozambique, Madagascar and swim further north towards our waters to mate and calve.

“They usually stay till mid-October before swimming back to the South Pole,” Farid told RFI.

After managing to swim out of the bay, the calf was caught in fishing nets laid out in deep water. Farid and some fishermen undertook another strenuous rescue mission. This time, precariously perched on a small wooden boat which was moving erratically because of the highly stressed mammal, the men attempted to cut the nets while making sure they did not injure the whale or themselves.

The calf was finally disentangled from the fishing nets, only to find itself nearing the shore. The rescue team managed to guide it offshore.

Hours into the rescue, the whale appeared to be distressed and weak. The local team monitoring its progress observed, at nightfall, two adults humpback whales swimming towards its direction.

“We believe that the baby whale is still alive because it surely would have been washed ashore on Monday, if that was not the case,” said RFI's correspondent Abdallah Mzembaba in Moroni.

According to the National Geographic, humpback whale numbers were severely reduced before the 1985 ban on commercial whaling, but the numbers in many population groups have since improved.

It says the biggest threats to humpback whales are collisions with ships and entanglement in fishing gear.

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Wednesday said Travis King, the U.S. soldier who crossed the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) into the country last month, has admitted that he "illegally intruded" due to "inhuman maltreatment and racial discrimination within the U.S. Army," state agency KCNA reported.

The report also claimed that King expressed a willingness to seek refuge in the DPRK or in a third country.

The Pentagon on Tuesday said it could not verify the alleged comments made by 23-year-old Private 2nd Class Travis King carried by the KCNA report but that Washington remained focused on his safe return.

"We remain focused on his safe return. The department's priority is to bring Private King home, and that we are working through all available channels to achieve that outcome," a Pentagon spokesperson said.

also

https://bnonews.com/index.php/2023/08/north-korea-says-u-s-soldier-travis-king-wants-to-stay-blames-racism/

In a hot afternoon in August, He Yuming, wearing her dad's big shirt and sweating profusely, sat down in a café and took out a neatly-folded handkerchief to wipe her sweat.

Everyday, He, beginning her sustainable journey in 2019, brings a reusable water bottle, tableware, portable charger, handkerchief, home-made lipstick and shopping bags in her small second-hand cross-body bag. The zero-waste kit can basically meet the needs of the day, so that she tries not to produce garbage.

In China, growing numbers of young people, with great respect for nature, are finding their ways to lower their carbon footprint. For those young nature-lovers, zero-waste is just a hobby, making them live with less and leading more fulfilling lives.

Su Yige, also named Yigedaizi on social media, labeling herself as "a hedonic environmentalist," is a lifestyle vlogger who shares her daily eco-friendly life and thoughts on environment protection on social media.

"Love myself and love our earth," she wrote on her YouTube profile.

She feels that "life without trace" will not sacrifice the quality of life and the pursuit of happiness, but, leave minimal impact on the environment.

Su's path on environment protection is also a teenagers' self-discovery journey. In her freshman year in university, Su was insecure about how she looked and how she dressed.

"Now, I really don't mind if people judge me on my clothes or my makeup. Instead, I would tell them that I truly didn't spend too much time on fashion or my outlook. What I love is the planet and nature," said Su.

For these nature lovers, environmental protection is just a hobby and a lifestyle.

"I don't care if I can influence anyone. I like environment protection just like some other people love basketball or pop singers," Su said to CGTN.

Deeply influenced by her family's living habits, He was instilled with eco-friendly awareness and respect for nature since childhood.

In 2019, He began her minimalist lifestyle journey — getting rid of the things she didn't need and focusing on things that really matter. Several months later, she realized that sustainability might be a better choice since it is about being a more conscious consumer and making decisions that doesn't damage the environment.

Then, He meticulously upgraded aspects of her existence to lead a more sustainable and less-carbon-consuming life by opting for consciously made, compostable and long-lasting, zero-waste daily items.

The first step was to change her shampoo and conditioner to shampoo bar soap and use reusable cups when ordering milk tea.

When talking about her next ecological footprint, He said she will be more eco-friendly on more occasions.

"I have many small goals. Next, I hope I can reduce the use of disposal napkins and plastic bags when buying vegetable or meat," He said.

"We don't need a handful of people doing zero waste perfectly. We need millions of people doing it imperfectly," Su shared her favorite quotes in her video.

"When I started embrace sustainable lifestyle in Canada, many people thought I was a Japanese student since there were few Chinese people would choose such lifestyle," she said to CGTN.

Then she searched online and found that all the contents about sustainable lifestyle on social media in China were advocated by local government or non-profits organizations.

"It is not because no one in China likes this way of life, but because no one knows such lifestyle is possible," she said. Then she started her vlog journey on social media.

To help more nature-lovers find people sharing the same interests, Su established an online group named "life without trace," which has attracted over 30,000 members online.

In her group, the most active topics of discussion are reduction in the use of plastics, environmental protection life in university dormitories and how to grow vegetables at dormitories.

In Beijing, there is a group of thousands of people who keeping picking up garbage every week.

"There is a constant flow of garbage, and there is no end to picking them up,”Zhang Yashi, 36, the founder of Plogging Beijing, said. "I hope that I can influence more people to realize that the environment needs to be maintained through activities like this."

To them, plogging, an act of picking up litter while jogging, is just simplicity and a desire to make a positive difference.

China has stopped releasing youth unemployment figures, which were seen by some as a key indication of the country's slowdown.

The decision is due to changes in the world's second largest economy and its society, a government spokesman said.

In June, China's jobless rate for 16 to 24 year olds in urban areas hit a record high of more than 20%.

The country's central bank also cut the cost of borrowing on Tuesday in an attempt to help boost growth.

Official figures published on Tuesday showed China's overall unemployment rate had risen to 5.3% in July.

At the same time the government said it would temporarily suspend publishing youth joblessness data but gave no timeline for the suspension.

A spokesman for the National Bureau of Statistics said the method of calculating unemployment among young people needed to be reconsidered.

"The economy and society are constantly developing and changing. Statistical work needs continuous improvement", Fu Linghui told a news conference in Beijing.

Mr Fu hinted that the growth in the number of students between 16 and 24 years of age had affected unemployment figures, but China has never counted those in education as unemployed.

China started publishing youth unemployment figures in 2018. However, it does not currently release data on the employment status of young people in rural areas.

The suspension of publishing youth unemployment figures immediately started trending on Chinese social media platform Weibo.

One user said: "Covering your mouth and closing your eyes, can that really solve problems? With flexible employment, slow employment, and independent employment, working for just one hour means you're not unemployed. Don't take the statistics from the Bureau of Statistics seriously."

"As long as I don't announce it, then nobody is unemployed," another post said.

The announcement came as the country's post-pandemic economic recovery is slowing.

In the latest move by authorities to boost growth the People's Bank of China on Tuesday unexpectedly cut key interest rates for the second time in three months.

Last week, China recently reported a sharp fall in exports while the economy slipped into deflation where prices fall.

"There is a real risk of the economy slipping into a recession unless policy support is ramped up soon," Julian Evans-Pritchard of Capital Economics said in a note to investors.

Another issue causing major concerns about China's economy is its crisis-hit property market.

On Monday, China's largest private real estate developer Country Garden warned that it could lose up to $7.6bn (£6bn) for the first six months of the year.

China's real estate industry was rocked when new rules to control the amount major developers could borrow were introduced in 2020.

The following year, Chinese property giant Evergrande defaulted on its massive debts and last month revealed a total loss of 581.9bn yuan ($81.1bn; £62bn) for the last two years.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen inadvertently consumed magic mushrooms during a visit to China.

Yellen says she didn't trip on the shrooms, and properly cooking them kills the psychedelic properties.

The dish sold out at the chain's other locations after Yellen ate there.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen almost took her trip to China a little too literally.

Yellen said she was unaware that the "delicious mushroom dish" she ordered at a popular Chinese restaurant contained mushrooms that could be hallucinogenic.

"I was not aware that these mushrooms had hallucinogenic properties," Yellen told CNN's Erin Burnett. "I learned that later."

The Treasury Secretary said she read that if the mushrooms were cooked that they do not cause hallucinations, so it does seem unlikely that the Biden Cabinet official was trying to intentionally microdose.

CNN previously reported that following Yellen's visit the mushroom dish was selling out at Yi Zuo Yi Wang other locations across China. Yi Zuo Yi Wang means In and Out in English, but the Chinese chain bears no connections to the California burger giant. Instead of animal style fries, Yi Zuo Yi Wang specializes in Yunnan food, according to CNN it is a popular cuisine in southwestern China.

Yellen visited Yi Zuo Yi Wang as part of a group dinner during a visit that sought to rebuild relations between the world's two largest economies. Washington and Beijing have increasingly been at loggerheads as both major US parties turn against China. It didn't help matters that Beijing was behind the February spy balloon incident either.

"No one visit will solve our challenges overnight," Yellen told reporters at the end of her trip. "But I expect that this trip will help build a resilient and productive channel of communication."

The separatist Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) claimed responsibility for the attack on a convoy of Chinese workers near Gawadar.

Security forces in Pakistan have killed two gunmen who attacked a convoy of Chinese workers in the country’s southwestern Balochistan province.

“Two attackers were killed in the operation, which has now concluded,” Gawadar Deputy Superintendent of Police Chakar Baloch told Al Jazeera on Sunday.

Local police official Jawad Tariq said all members of the Chinese convoy and security officials involved in the exchange of fire remained unharmed.

The separatist Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) claimed responsibility for the attack on vehicles carrying Chinese engineers in the southern coastal city of Gawadar, where China is building a seaport.

“BLA Majeed Brigade today targeted a convoy of Chinese engineers in Gawadar,” the armed group, which is banned in Pakistan, said on social media.

Earlier, the media wing of Pakistan’s military issued a statement saying an operation was launched after the “presence of terrorists in the area was confirmed”.

“Terrorists used small arms and hand grenades,” the military statement said, adding security forces cordoned off the area and carried out a search operation.

China’s state-run newspaper Global Times also confirmed the attack, saying, “the convoy of three SUVs and a van, all bulletproof, carried 23 Chinese personnel”.

Gawadar, a seaport town on Pakistan’s southwestern coast, is undergoing developmental projects carried out with help from Chinese engineers and financed by the Chinese government.

BLA and other Baloch separatist groups have previously carried out and claimed attacks on China-linked development projects in the province.

The area where the attack took place houses the Pak-China Technical Institute, a judicial complex and other government offices.

“There was intense firing for 20 minutes and shopkeepers pulled down shutters after the attack”, a local resident, requesting anonymity, told Al Jazeera by telephone.

The Chinese consulate general in the southern city of Karachi issued a safety warning, according to Global Times.

“The consulate urged people to maintain high vigilance and strictly control large-scale gathering activities due to the severe security situation,” it said.

Balochistan, bordering Iran and Afghanistan, is strategically important because of its rich copper, zinc and natural gas reserves. Cities in the province are a constant target of armed groups.

Much of the violence is seen as a reaction by rebels to China’s investment plans in the region to link its Xinjiang province with the Arabian Sea in Balochistan through a network of roads and rail.

Baloch nationalists initially wanted a share of provincial resources, but later initiated a movement for complete independence.

Venezuela's Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ) ordered the intervention of the Communist Party (PCV) of the South American country, known for its stance against President Nicolás Maduro, it was reported in Caracas.

The Constitutional Chamber of the TSJ appointed an “ad hoc board of directors” to “organize internal democratic processes that guarantee the rights of political participation of the associates”, in a ruling similar to rulings issued in 2020 against the main opposition political parties.

The PCV was an ally of the late President Hugo Chávez (1999-2013), but broke with Maduro due to economic discrepancies.

“We denounce before the Venezuelan people, the communist parties, the workers and the genuinely anti-imperialist forces of the world, that the government of Nicolás Maduro has consummated the assault against the Communist Party of Venezuela through an arbitrary judicial sentence,” PCV leaders wrote on social networks on Saturday.

The PCV opposes the dissolution of wages through inflation and devaluation, making Venezuelans earn less than 5 U.S. dollars, supplemented with state bonds.

The ousted secretary general of the PCV, Óscar Figuera, called those who filed the lawsuit a “mercenary group” and accused them of carrying out “an anti-democratic maneuver”. Last month, more than 300 politicians, intellectuals, trade unionists and activists from several countries signed a petition requesting Maduro to avoid “the judicialization” of the PCV.

In July 2020, the TSJ suspended the board of Voluntad Popular, the party of opposition leaders Leopoldo López and Juan Guaidó, who then called the TSJ a “judicial arm” of the Maduro government. The previous month, the TSJ had taken similar measures against Acción Democrática and Primero Justicia.

PCV twitter post referenced:

https://twitter.com/PCV_Venezuela/status/1690327599405322240

Caracas has denounced that the country will not receive the released funds any time soon as US sanctions impede the transfer.

Caracas, August 12, 2023 (venezuelanalysis.com) – The Venezuelan government has won a legal battle to recover approximately 1.35 billion Euros (some 1.5 billion US dollars) frozen since 2019 by Portugal’s Novo Banco.

On Wednesday, Information Minister Freddy Ñañez published the ruling by the Central Civil Court of Lisbon, dated July 31, ordering the private bank to transfer the funds to accounts held by nine Venezuelan entities, including state oil company PDVSA, joint oil ventures, and the Venezuelan Economic and Social Development Bank (BANDES).

In a communique, the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry celebrated the court’s order to release the retained funds.

“This constitutes a clear victory of the Venezuelan people against the strategy promoted by foreign powers and local politicians to appropriate the country’s resources and cause suffering to the population,” the statement read.

The document stated that the Venezuelan government does not discard taking future legal action against the Portuguese bank “for damages caused to its entities and people.”

For its part, Novo Banco said that the court decision “was expected” and it responded to a petition made by the bank to the Portuguese courts “to clarify existing doubts regarding the legal representation of Venezuelan public entities,” appointed by the Nicolás Maduro government.

The Novo Banco funds were withheld after Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó declared himself “Interim President” in January 2019, with support from over 50 countries, including Portugal. Since then, some $6 billion worth of Venezuelan assets have remained blocked in several European countries. However, the US-backed self-proclaimed “interim government” dissolved in December 2022 changing the course of the legal battle.

Speaking on national television on Friday, President Maduro promised his government “will not give up fighting to rescue all the resources that belong to Venezuelans.” He went on to pledge that once the funds held in Novo Banco are obtained “it will go directly to guarantee people’s social rights and to public services."

Novo Banco’s lawyers have not confirmed when they will proceed with the transfer, stating that they were “analyzing the practical effects of the ruling.” The bank added that returning the money to Venezuela would not affect its capital ratios addressing concerns over its financial issues in recent years.

According to Venezuela’s Vice-Minister of Anti-Blockade Policies, William Castillo, the ruling by the Lisbon Court was more of a “political victory” as the Maduro government will not be able to access the funds in the near future.

“This [judicial] decision opens a new stage [but] is not that that money is going to arrive here tomorrow because [...] BANDES is sanctioned and is the owner of the resources,” explained Castillo.

BANDES was founded in 2001 to finance community-led development projects. In May 2019, the entity was sanctioned by the US Treasury Department alongside the Bank of Venezuela and Bicentenario Bank, two of the major state-owned banks in the Caribbean country. Since 2017, Venezuela has been under a wide-reaching US sanctions program.

In September 2021, member of the European Parliament Mick Wallace denounced that Novo Banco was being used by the Portuguese government “as a front” to expropriate Venezuelan funds at a time “when Portugal was clearly not applying US sanctions.”

The Irish politician likewise claimed that at the time it was unclear if the Portuguese bank still had the Venezuelan funds amidst the “odd circumstances” surrounding its ownership, from selling 75 percent of its shares to the US investment fund Lone Star to losing billions of euros and turning to the state for capital injections to stay afloat.

In April 2019, President Maduro requested that the Portuguese government release the frozen funds in order to purchase food and medicines as Venezuela went through shortages under an economic crisis exacerbated by US sanctions. Soon after, BANDES authorities asked Novo Banco to transfer the funds to the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) to pay for vaccines and medicines for infants, stating that a judge greenlighted the procedure for humanitarian reasons but the petitions were left unanswered.

According to the Venezuelan government, Novo Banco also refused to release 4.7 million Euros to the Italian Foundation for Bone Marrow Transplant, causing the death of Venezuelan children and teenagers in need of treatment or surgery.