As our trip comes to a close, here are some random parting thoughts as we fly back home:
Archived Journal Entries
November 17, 2005
November 16, 2005
November 15, 2005
November 14, 2005
November 13, 2005
November 10, 2005
October 31, 2005
October 24, 2005
November 17,
2005
Did you ever wonder where your sewage went? Well, today I found out. I visited a sewage treatment plant. Sounds fun huh? Personally, I wasn’t really sure about going. The whole idea 
about seeing other people’s waste wasn’t a thrill. However, the opportunity to see a treatment plant was worth it.
On the way to the plant, I talked to a person from the environmental delegation. He gave me a little insight about what I would see and smell. In talking with him, I was excited about the mechanical aspect of the plant – things like the turbines, storage tanks, and centrifuges. I started to become more and more anxious to see the plant. By the time we got there, I was about ready to lead the tour.
As the chief engineer led us through the plant, I looked around and couldn’t believe how clean everything was. The first stop was the pumping station – the largest in one in all on Asia – where we saw eight turbines that pump all of the Honk Kong area sewage to the plant. Next, we saw the control room, which had the latest computer-monitoring system. I was amazed at how efficiently the valves and tanks were displayed. After that, it was on to the storage tanks. These tanks separated the solid and liquid parts of the sewage. I was surprised that it didn’t really smell. Next, we saw the centrifuges that separate the 30% of water 
that is in the solid sewage. Then, the engineer showed us the tanks that hold the solid waste after the water is taken out. Last, the solid (or “cake”) waste is put into trucks and hauled to a landfill.
This plant was an awesome thing to see. I hope that if any of you have the chance to tour a plant, you do it. Talk to ya later.
David
November 16,
2005
Today I had a unique experience. I saw the “other” side of Shanghai and, in some ways, of China.
The environmental group visited a solid hazardous waste treatment plant on the outside of Shanghai, an old and undeveloped part of the city, a neighborhood of old and broken down 
buildings (see video above). Next to those was small fields used for farming. The smell was of industry and freshly plowed soil. The people looked the same, but they wore different clothes than the people around downtown. Their clothes reminded me of the overalls that my dad sells. But they were torn in many places and full of soil from the fields or oil from the factories. I didn’t know what to say. It was like a culture shock. I never thought that I would see this side of Shanghai. I knew places like this existed, but I couldn’t believe I was actually seeing it.
I had never seen a solid hazardous waste treatment plant, or really even knew what one did. Until the tour, I thought that “solid hazardous waste” meant human waste. Thank goodness I was wrong, because I wasn’t too thrilled to smell other people’s waste for three hours. Anyway, this plant disposed of things like watch batteries, alkaline batteries (the ones used in your CD players or flashlights), and contaminated metals. This plant disposed of the material using a method that mixed the material with cement. The material was melted at extremely high 
temperature. Other elements were added to stabilize or neutralize the hazardous part of the contaminated material. And cement was added to make the whole thing into a thick sludge. The sludge was then moved to a dry, containment area, like a huge pool divided into cells, each containing a certain contaminated material. When the cells were full, the tops were covered with topsoil. This allowed for excavation of the material if it ever because needed. This disposal method seemed to be a very safe way of dealing with solid contaminated materials.
I really enjoyed seeing all these things on my last day in Shanghai. Next time I’ll be writing from Hong Kong. Talk to ya later!
November 15,
2005
I had a hard time writing today’s journal for two reasons. First, I went with the education delegation to a private school. Second, I didn’t have time to interview a person from 
the environmental delegation. However, in the interest of writing something, here are my impressions and observations of Beijing and Shanghai.
On our way to the school I noticed huge amounts of construction. The construction that I saw included everything from new buildings to new sidewalks. The sidewalks were made with brick, which really surprised me because of the length they were laying. By this I mean, on average the construction workers were laying half- to full-mile sections at a time. The construction of buildings included hospitals, corporate headquarters, and even large apartments. I was amazed 
to
see the size and design of these buildings. Our tour guide said that the one
of the hospitals has a cost of about $60 million. This doesn’t seem like
much for a “state of the art” hospital. I later found out, this was because the 
workers
only get paid $2 a day. Even with such a small wage the workers seemed happy
to be working.
The second thing I noticed was that many people in China drive bicycles or scooters. The people on the two-and three-wheeled contraptions just filled right in with regular car traffic. Bikes appear to be the major form of transportation downtown. However, bikes were used less in the residential areas on the outside of the city. This was most likely due to the distance that the people in the outside areas 
had to go. I’ll give you an idea of the size of Beijing’s infrastructure: If you look at the loop of 494 and 694 around the Twin Cities, Beijing has just started work on its sixth loop. Nevertheless, people still use bikes as forms of transportation.
My next journal will include what I’ve seen and heard about Shanghai. So tune in tomorrow and read all about it.
November 14,
2005
Many people in the U.S. look at China’s environment and think the Chinese government doesn’t care. This is false. I learned more about this topic from U.S. Government and Chinese leaders today. All four highlighted the Chinese Five Year Plan as evidence of their commitment.
The Chinese Five Year Plan is a group of goals for the environment that the Chinese government hopes to improve on. I have listed some of these goals:
- Emphasis on better efficiency in resource utilization. This has to do with renewable energy resources. Some examples are bio-diesel, sulfur fuels, and retrofitting vehicles to diesel.
- The environmental budget will nearly double to $170 billion, up from the $90 billion budget for the last five years.
- In the next two years, China will be creating 26 more waste-treatment plants in urban areas around the country. Human waste is a major contributor to the country’s water pollution problems.
- Many smaller but effective projects. Such as: the South to North Water Transfer Project and the Desulphurization Installation at Power Plants.
One
of the four people I interviewed was Deborah Seligsohn. She is the Counselor
of the Environment, Science, Technology and Health at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing.
She said, “China is being greatly improved because of 
the many small public
and private programs cooperating together to achieve the goals of the Five
Year Plan.”
I asked Maurice W. House for his thoughts on the Five Year
Plan. Mr. House is the Minister-Counselor for Agriculture Affairs at the U.S.
Embassy. He focused on how the U.S. is helping China with this plan. He told
me, “The U.S. is spending $250,000 on a program to research US agriculture
and environmental companies that can help China’s agriculture and water treatment.”
For more information and stats on china’s water treatment check out this document on the web: http://www.environment.ita.doc.gov/.
Talk to ya later.
David
November 13,
2005
Ni
hao (hello), everyone in Tracy and the rest of Minnesota! Wow! Today
was an awesome action-packed day. All of the people on the mission
were excited for today’s sites. We visited “The Great
Wall” and “The Forbidden City”. There is a huge
amount of China’s environment that I saw today.
The feeling I had when I saw The Great Wall was
like seeing and touching one of the most famous historical structures
ever built. The sight was amazing. The wall stretched for miles
and made a definitive line in the landscape. Feeling the strong
stones, I realized that they had been walked on by millions of people
in over 2700 years! I couldn’t imagine the
amount
of sweat and blood that was put into the 6000 km wall. I walked
up - yea up - about a half mile in steps! My calves got a true work
out. However, the hike was worth the beautiful view at the top.
The view of the trees and the hills reminded me of the New Ulm river
valley that I saw a few weeks ago. The trees were of different species,
but the colors were similar. I couldn’t believe that I would
see a place in China similar to the New Ulm river valley.
The next stop was the Forbidden City. To be in
the home of the former emperors of China made it a place I’ll
never forget. Adding to the experience was the majestic beauty of
the old temples and marble steps. On the tour, I realized that there
were
no trees in the courtyards, so I asked the tour guide why. He told
me there were two reasons. The first, to my surprise, was that the
emperor of China believed wood was bad for the earth. Therefore,
the government didn’t allow trees to be put in the courtyards.
The second reason was the emperor feared that an assassin would
hide in the trees and attack him when he went for a walk.
I can’t wait to see more of China’s environment.
Tomorrow, I will be traveling with the environmental group to a
discussion at the EPA in Beijing. I’ll give you a brief on
what is discussed. Talk to ya tomorrow.
November 10,
2005
I went deer hunting this past weekend. However, I was unsuccessful. No, it wasn't that I missed the deer. It was because only a squirrel and few bunnies came near my stand. You hunters know what I‚m talking about. Oh, well. That squirrel was funny to watch and there is always next year.
I did some research on what things China is doing to improve its environment. I found that some of the major cities have similar and different ways of dealing with the problem of pollution. I‚ll just highlight on two in just Beijing.
In 1999, Beijing ordered city vehicles to convert to liquefied petroleum gas and natural gas. By 2002, Beijing had the largest fleet of natural gas buses in the world - a total of 1,630 vehicles. Beijing has now expanded to subway and light rail systems. That is a great step in reducing green house gases. Minnesota is working to clean up harmful diesel emissions by promoting new retrofit technologies and cleaner fuels for school and transit buses. Because of this technology, Minnesota is working towards cleaner air.
The second involves the water quality in Beijing. Beijing has made an effort to increase the urban sewage being treated. Now, only about 30% is being treated. That‚s horrible! That‚s one of the reasons why the water quality is dangerous. Now, Beijing plans to treat over half of the sewage. To do this they will have to increase daily treatment capacity by 40 million tons!
If you want to compare China's water treatment standards to
Minnesota's, this is an available website: http://www.pca.state.mn.us/water/standards/
Keep logging on and checking the site. Soon you will see daily journals and pictures from us in the field. Write to ya later.
David
October 31,
2005
Why should we worry about China's environment? How can China's environment affect us? These are the questions that I researched on the web this week, hoping to discover some answers. I learned some disturbing facts.
Environmental experts warn that China’s pollution levels could more than quadruple within 15 years if the country does not curb its rapid growth in energy consumption and automobile use. To think that a country’s pollution problems could quadruple in such a short time is unbelievable to me. Digging deeper I found that China’s air pollution doesn't respect borders: on certain days almost 25 percent of the particulate matter clotting the skies above Los Angeles can be traced to China. That’s right in our backyard. If things continue, Minnesota could eventually be affected by pollution that originates in China.
Another fact that shocked me is that 400,000 people die prematurely every year in China from diseases linked to air pollution. That's about a tenth of Minnesota’s population every year. The problem is only getting worse. Check out my next journal entry to learn what China is doing to reduce these problems.
October 24,
2005
My family was traveling home from Mankato, Minnesota. As we
drove through a beautiful river valley toward the city of New Ulm,
I looked at the number of trees and the tractors in the field. We
crossed the river and I wondered if I would see things like this in
China. China has just about every environment possible. You
can find arid land in the north to freezing temps and the highest
view in the world to the west. What makes China so interesting
to me is how similar it is to the USA. We share many things,
from similar weather patterns to environmental problems like acid
rain and water pollution. However, China is also different in
several ways. China has about the same land area as the US, but four
times the people in that same area. Wow! And I feel cramped
in southwest Minnesota.
One thing that I always enjoy doing on a trip is comparing environments and
people, which makes this project very fun for me. To me, one thing that
everyone in the world shares is the environment. Something that affects
China now could affect us tomorrow or in five years. China is so connected
to us – and we to them – that we all have to worry about the Asian
Bird Flu, global warming and air pollution. The more we know about China
and the problems we share the better we can work together to solve them.
David
