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:

Ocean Dead Zone Getting Bigger by Wendy Cohen

Top 10 Ways to Green Up Your Kids by Martin Musatov

* * *

Nicole Hughes:

2008 Olympic Games: Top 10 Stories from TakePart

Happy Meals: 5 More Organic Alternatives to Fast Food

* * *

Andy Kondrat:

China’s Pollution Affects Alaska’s Air Quality

JetBlue CEO Cuts His Pay In Half

* * *

Jon Popham:

Yet Another Reason to Get Off Oil…Russia

Detroit Home Sells for $1

* * *

Gina Telaroli:

Synchronized Swimming Gets Olympic Treatment in “Sync Or Swim”

Parting the Murky Waters of Race in the Swimming Pool

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]

Read the rest of this entry »

Everything I learned about pollution in Beijing, I learned on YouTube…sort of. Sure I’ve read about it - but it’s one thing to peruse an article and it’s another to see rivers of toxic waste streaming out of a factory and killing all vegetation within a two-foot radius. Sadly, many people in China are forced to use this untreated toxic water for drinking and watering crops, and pollution has made cancer the number one cause of death in the country.

Government does little if anything to regulate factory emissions and waste, and in fact, Chinese environmental advocates live under constant fear of arrest. The video below is a startling first hand depiction of the social effects of pollution in China:

Read the rest of this entry »

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 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]

Read the rest of this entry »