I sincerely apologize for the lack of posts in the last few weeks. I’ve been struggling mightily recently with a couple of big topics:
1) What are the most effective ways to support and promote environmental protection in China?; and
2) What would I like to do/what am I able to do for the environmental cause in China?
I have yet to figure these questions out. As you could probably tell from my last post, I am quite pessimistic and discouraged about what can be done without some major systemic changes.
On a smaller scale, I’ve also struggled with how to present the pics I took during the Southwestern Adventure. I think I’ve finally come up with a prudent way to do this that is hopefully entertaining and informative while also adequately “safe”.
As always, I highly encourage comments. I will always do my best to reply to them, and even when I don’t, be assured that I really appreciate them. I dream about comments and the people who leave them. Yes, I just told you the secret of how to appear in my dreams. Now start commenting!
This post includes pictures from the first several days of the trip, covering the approximate route showed on this Google map. Several other galleries are upcoming. For your enjoyment, I’ve included captions on a large majority of these pictures. Please let me know if you have trouble seeing either the pictures or the captions. If you are not satisfied by the size of the photos afforded by the gallery view, you can right-click on individual pictures and select “view image” to see larger versions.
January 4, 2011 at 15:02
cool pics — they seem to tell some interesting stories from a beautiful region.
1) who buys the parts from the small hydro store? is that the equivalent of a coal power plant going to Home Depot for parts? i would expect the factories would have spare parts stored on location & have the others shipped as needed.
2) why did you censor the faces of the people handing out gifts? are they capitalist swine?
3) the slate shingles just looked piled onto the roof….what happens during heavy winds?
4) do they recycle the beer bottles? (does china charge a reimbursable fee on bottles/cans, like the CRV?)
5) how did you meet the families? did you stay with them? would you describe their life as 3rd world?
6) how do the farms irrigate? do they have electric pumps?
January 4, 2011 at 16:35
1) these areas are relatively rural, and the scale of these small hydro plants is small. in China, small hydro is defined as 50 megawatts or less. i would guess that many of the small hydro plants around this area were less than 10 megawatts. for some context, a 50 megawatt hydro plant can power about 35,000 U.S. households. that doesn’t seem so small, but still small enough to buy parts from these local stores, i suppose. or maybe the owner of that store is a complete moron and gets 0 business.
2) yes. damn capitalists!
3) i think you’re right about the slate shingles being piled on the roof. perhaps the way it works is that the ones on the very top of the roof are attached to the top support beam somehow, and then the lower shingles are all overlapped to take advantage of the mass of all of the surrounding shingles. this way, only a wind with enough force to lift the weight of all the shingles would destroy the roof. here’s a closer view of the shingles from below: http://www.chasingmirages.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/IMG_1282-beto-comment.jpg
4) yes, they do recycle beer bottles. maybe once a week they make a trip to town and trade in all the bottles for money. i assume this is true in the countryside from what i’ve seen in beijing. in beijing many people make a living collecting bottles and other recyclable trash. that said, it is true that there are many rural places plagued by mountains of bottles because they are too far from recycling facilities. but i don’t think this is one of them. the road is decent and many people have trucks and cars.
5) some of the families we just met randomly along the way. others, the Green Earth Volunteers have been following for several years. we did stay with one family (the lady cooking swine meal) because they own a small guesthouse. it depends on how you would define “third world”. most of the places we went to have electricity but no running water. also, due to the limitations of the trip (20 people, huge bus), we only went to places that are easily accessible by road.
6) from my understanding, the fields on mountainsides are sited and terraced to take advantage of the natural flow of water from tops of mountains to the rivers below. at least in this region, which is relatively rich in precipitation, there is no need for electric pumps.
January 4, 2011 at 14:43
Love the updates, even though they’re sporadic. Looks like you’re enjoying your time in China, and seeing the (Chinese) world. Hope we get to meet up again soon.
January 4, 2011 at 16:36
haha.. “enjoy” can be very broadly defined.
January 4, 2011 at 03:46
Awesome pics!! My favorite is of course the little kitty, but it looks like it’s had a rough life so far! And sheesh, I cannot believe your caption. Though I have no doubt you are crop dusting all over China!
January 4, 2011 at 15:59
LOL. you know me too well. many crops have been dusted.