The group of 6 Americans, including Alive in Baghdad’s Brian Conley and artists James Powderly, that were detained in Beijjing last week have been released and were put on a plane home.

According to Students for a Free Tibet (SFT) - “James Powderly, Brian from Alive in Baghdad, and everyone else all arrive at LAX around 6 or 7pm tonight,” A group of Tibetan expatriates and pro-Tibet activists plan to greet them at the airport and welcome them home.”  This was released yesterday, so everyone should be safe and sound now.

This is good news, although it’s sad that the artists and documentarians didn’t get to voice their opinions. takepart to get involved with Students for a Free Tibet and watch an episode of Alive in Baghdad below:

Students For A Free Tibet announced yesterday that, along with 4 other “citizen journalists”, Brian Conley, creator of the amazing video blog series Alive in Baghdad, was detained in Beijing. Conley and his friend Jeffrey Rae were in Beijing to work with Students for a Free Tibet to document pro-Tibet protests in Beijing.

Not only were Conley and Rae detained, international artist James Powderly has also been taken in and activists Jeff Goldin, Michael Liss, and Tom Grant have also gone missing. They are all American citizens.

Below is some video taken by Conley on August 13th:

Beijing: Ethnic Park Protest - Aug. 13, 2008 from Students for a Free Tibet on Vimeo.

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Olympics Olympics Olympics! We love the good, the bad, the ugly and everything in between when it comes to the 2008 Beijing Olympics here at TakePart.  It’s reason enough not to miss our Top 10 Stories about the Olympic Games, which we’ve been reporting on in the months leading up to now. Catch the best in TakePart Olympic news below:

1) 2008 Olympic Torch Relay Will Create 11 Million Pounds of CO2 by Nicole Hughes

The 2008 Olympic torch relay hasn’t galvanized a lot of warm fuzzy feelings and hand holding this year. Opposition to China’s treatment of Tibet has inspired international protests, with some dissenters even managing to snuff out the torch and delay the tour… [click here for the full story]

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Coca-Cola wins its first green medal for its efforts to reduce its carbon footprint at the Beijing 2008 Olympics by using climate-friendly coolers and vending machines in all official venues. The 6,350 new eco-friendly refrigeration machines have an anticipated 10-year lifespan, and are expected to save a total of 45,000 metric tons of carbon. That’s the equivalent of taking 218,000 cars off the road for two weeks during the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.

Here’s more from Greenpeace after the JUMP —>

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The TakePart Top 10 Weekly Roundup is a compilation of the week’s most notable stories from our entertainment-meets-social-action blogging network. Check out some of our most popular stories of the week, as well as a few TakePart blogger favorites!

TakePart Gang:

35 Million Tons of Toxic Stew by Wendy Cohen

“Waterboard Thrill Ride” Opens At Coney Island by Blair Golson

* * *

Nicole Hughes:

Green Summer Music Tours Not To Be Missed

Eat Your Veggies: Quit Composting in the Fridge

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Andy Kondrat:

Almost Half of Earth’s Primates In Danger of Extinction

Beijing’s Pollution Not Gone, Just Moved Outside of Town

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Jon Popham:

GOP: Drill More Oil Or We’ll Shut Down the Government

Global Warming’s “Sausage Fest” Effect

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Gina Telaroli:

Olympic Flag Bearer for the US: A Champion of  Darfur

Time to Act: Sexual Assault and Women in the Military

You may have noticed quite a bit of information flowing from this website concerning the city of Beijing and the problem of pollution leading up to the Olympic Games, but by no means is this problem limited to China’s capital city. As the city itself has been working to clear the air around the area the games will be held, high-polluting factories haven’t simply shut down around Beijing - they’ve been moved to outlying regions.

The Washington Post reports that when China was given the Summer Games back in 2001, the government immediately went to work reducing pollution around Beijing. But the main goal, it seems, has not been to reduce pollution around the country. One such example from the article:

As recently as five years ago, [one] region about 125 miles east of Beijing was a resort, and its sea overflowed with pike, flounder and carp. Now there are few fish, and it’s a rare day when Zhang, 53, can see the sun through the smoke. She can tell the direction of the winds from the color of the soot blowing by her home. The gray iron deposits come from the southern steel mills, while the white powder comes from chemical factories, and black dust from coal and coking plants.

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The Olympic Games start tomorrow, and though China has made concerted efforts to cut pollution down before the games begin, today the residents of Beijing woke up to a “white smog,” a phenomenon occurring when pollution is so thick that a skyline is virtually invisible.

How thick is a white smog, you ask? ABC (this is the Australian one, not the Disney one) puts it pretty well as such: “The smog is so thick that passers-by on the streets fail to cast shadows.” Gross. But if rain does hit Beijing tomorrow afternoon, as forecasted, the smog may dissipate prior to the Opening Ceremonies.

Way before this development, the pollution had already become such an issue some athletes had decided not to compete for health reasons. And this isn’t really helping any. At this point, though, it’s up to nature to hopefully lend a helping hand so that the events can proceed unhindered. As it’s not so likely you can take action to help unpollute Beijing before the Opening Ceremony, instead you can takepart here to see fifty ways you can reduce your own pollution output.

The Summer Olympics in Beijing are just about three weeks away, and to attempt to lower pollution levels as much as possible before the games start, China is removing half the cars on the road.  The Associated Press reports:

Under the two-month plan, half of the capital’s 3.3 million cars will be removed from city streets on alternate days, depending on whether the license plate ends in an odd or even number.

The plan came into effect yesterday, apparently creating slightly clearer skies and lighter traffic.  In addition to the traffic limitations, China is adding 3,000 busses to the roads by the time the Games start, which will increase the daily bus capacity from 12.5 million to 15 million people.  Beijing has also opened new subway lines, which are anticipated to carry 1.1 million people every day during the Olympics.

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Stephen Wilkes‘ new show, The Construction of the Olympic Stadium and Other Chinese Public Works, at ClampArt Gallery depicts a nation in massive transition. Perhaps massive isn’t even the right adjective when one considers that China’s recent economic rise is the largest and fastest growth experienced by a single nation in recorded history. Wilkes’ photo exhibition presents public works on a whole new scale, one suited to fit the world’s most populous nation.

Views of construction for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing (”The Data Center”of which is seen left) and the massive Three Gorges Dam (seen below the jump) - the largest dam on earth projected to supply 10% of China’s electricity needs - show a present day society with the appearance of something straight out of science fiction.

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The potential effect of China’s pollution on the 2008 Summer Olympic Games is becoming more and more obvious, as the world record holder in the men’s marathon stated a few months back he will not compete due to pollution, and now the woman’s world record holder says that the pollution could force her to wear a mask when not competing.  Yesterday, Paula Radcliffe stated that the use of a mask while in Beijing may be necessary to help keep her asthma in check.  In an interview with BBC Radio, she said,

“I think the biggest factor is going to be runny eyes, runny nose and sore throat after the event - and if things go according to plan in the race, I don’t particularly care. The biggest thing for me is to make sure my asthma is under control - which it is - and minimise the effects of pollution in the lead-up to the race.” [news.scotsman.com]

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