Though China enacted some pollution-controlling measures (we may have mentioned some of the issues around that) in the months prior to the Olympics (and I haven’t actually heard much about any pollution problems since the games started), the country is also making policy changes that will hopefully curb pollution in the long run. In a not-so-subtle nudge for Chinese consumers, the Finance Ministry is raising taxes on large cars, while simultaneously lowering taxes on small ones. From the Associated Press, as reported in The Detroit News:

The tax on passenger vehicles with engines bigger than 4 liters will be doubled to 40 percent from 20 percent, effective Sept. 1, the Finance Ministry said Wednesday in a statement on its Web site. Those buying vehicles with engines sized from 2 liters up to 4 liters will have to pay a 25 percent tax, up from the current 15 percent, it said.

Cars with engines up to one liter in size will have their tax dropped from three percent to one percent.

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What would the Olympics be without controversy…?

I’m not talking about Beijing pollution, media control and the vast human rights issues – from Darfur genocide to Tibet’s destruction to Spielberg’s exit to British journalist persecution – but about the athletes and their performances.

Gone, it appears, are the swimming false starts (and normal swim suits), the track and field drug exposes, the simpler gymnastics’ scoring that revealed individual nationalistic biases. However, the biggest controversy so far has been the age-doping.

Jon Stewart has some “athlete-producing sweatshops” fun below.

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I’ve never really considered the direct international implications of polluting, mainly because thinking takes energy and can be difficult and stuff, but it turns out the pollution in China is having an adverse effect on Alaska’s environment. The Peninsula Clarion in Alaska reports:

Industrial pollutants from China’s increasingly robust use of coal are plating out across the globe, including here in Alaska, brought here by storms crossing the Pacific Ocean transporting tons of airborne chemicals that shower onto coastal waters and inland where it they end up in the local food chain, according to scientists studying the phenomenon.

The scientists doing their sciency thing can study the pollutants to find the original source, which is why they can say as a certainty the pollution in Alaska is coming from China. As well, they are attempting to measure the percentage of overall pollution in the United States coming from China, and the numbers are a little frightening.

A Scientific American article published online this week noted that a brown cloud leaving China is visible from space ‘and takes about a week to cross the Pacific to the western U.S., where it accounts for as much as 15 percent of the air pollution.’

You can takepart here to find more articles about airborne pollution.

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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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.

Joey Cheek, American speed skater, gold-medalist and president of Team Darfur, a group of Olympic athletes working to end the genocide, had his visa revoked by Chinese authorities today and won’t be able to attend the upcoming Beijing games.

The Chinese authorities have made no comment and don’t intend to. The news came the night before Cheek was expected to fly to China to support his country and his politics.

One of Cheek’s main Olympic goals during the Beijing Games was to urge the international community to persuade Sudan abide by the tradition of the Olympic truce.

So many athletes “are drawn to this issue,” Martha Bixby (Team Darfur spokesperson) says, referring to Darfur. “To me, this fits in with the Olympics, which are about the world coming together for the betterment of mankind.” [NPR]

While this is of course frustrating, awful and in direct conflict with the spirit of the Olympics, it is getting Joey and Team Darfur a lot more press than they normally would have. I can’t help but wonder if this will help the cause more than if he had quietly made his way to China?

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U.S. swimmer Amanda Beard defied a Chinese ban and unveiled her nude PETA ad in Beijing. Former Olympian Joey Cheek, meanwhile, got his Via revoked in advance of a trip to urge China to bring peace to Darfur.

U.S. Olympian swimmer Amanda Bear just became the latest in a long line of celebrities to pose nude for a PETA (animal rights) ad.

Chinese officials had earlier prohibited her from unveiling the photo indoors (”for security reasons”), so Beard merely moved the procession outside. Security officials didn’t press the issue.

I guess China didn’t want to risk another international incidient — not when it’s trying so hard to make sure no Olympian mentions the word “Darfur.” (Just today it revoked the Visa of Ex-Olympic speedskater Joey Cheek, who intended to travel to China to urge Beijing to promote peace efforts in Darfur)

takepart visiting AmandaBeard.net for ways to take action on animal rights (yes, there are more photos, too.)

takepart by visiting the takepart wiki to take action on Darfur

Mother earth called, and she isn’t happy.

A 6.0 earthquake rattled a western Chinese region today. One person was killed and 23 injured.  The quake struck a few hours after the Olympic torch passed through and hit the same region devastated by the May 12th 7.9 quake that killed over 69,000 people.

A powerful storm tore through Chicago yesterday. Wrigley Field was evacuated and tornado sirens echoed through the downtown area

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Foreign athletes at the Bejing Olympics may have to compete in uniforms like these if China doesn't get its pollution under control

Bejing just announced a new set of anti-pollution measures aimed at staving off the concerns of Olympic athletes who aren’t too thrilled by the prospect of competing in uniforms made for Ebola outbreaks.

Four Giant Panda Cubs were born in a Chinese Panda Breeding Center within 14 hours yesterday. The newborns are a very welcome addition to the endangered whose population currently numbers at most a mere 3,000 bears worldwide with only 1,600 of those living in the wild.

The Chengdu Panda Breeding Research Center was a busy place with Qiyuan, or Magic Luck, giving birth to twin female cubs, followed by Chenggong, or Success, having one cub a little over an hour and a half later and Zhuzhu, or Pearl, giving birth about 11 hours after, the following morning.

The births couldn’t have come at a better time for the embattled Giant Panda population. China’s recent devastating earthquake in Sichuan Province put many of the beloved bears at risk, with many Pandas needing to be relocated from Wolong National Nature Reserve, China’s most famous Panda Preserve, for their safety.

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