Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
The Olympics
China has a laundry list of human rights violations. In recent times, American politicians have found it difficult to identify and characterize many of these violations, because of incomplete information and enormous political repercussions of making any claims. Many (including myself) look to the media for information. China's issues of free speech and the cause for Tibetan independence have received the most media attention. This is only the tip-of-the-iceberg of human rights violations for the People's Republic of China. The spotlight placed on Tibet has cast an enormous shadow on China's complicit role in Darfur, one of China's most abominable crimes. China is Sudan's biggest investor, the only major power to purchase Sudanese oil. And in turn, China is Sudan's largest supplier of arms. According to various reports from CNN and the Washington Post, Sudan houses Chinese-made tanks, fighter planes, bombers, helicopters, machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades.
To protect its investment interests, China has blocked every proposed sanction against Sudan. Additionally, the international community's attempt to pressure China has amounted to nothing but a scoff from the Chinese government.
The majority of Americans who were against boycotting the Olympics might respond to me by asking "how is that relevant to the Olympics?" Or maybe they would assert that the games should not become political. In an ideal world, I would agree with the 80%+ of Americans support the 2008 Beijing Olympics. But we are living in a time of desperation. China has the fastest growing economy, and consequently the United States' leverage over China decreases day-by-day. The Olympics were a non-violent way to protest, to place enormous amounts of pressure on China to comply with the international community on key issues like Darfur. I want to stress non-violent.
What now? The prospects of any new sanctions being passed on Sudan are dismal. Pressuring China to pressure Sudan could have yielded phenomenal results. But instead, we will continue on a path of mitigation; rather than stopping the crisis, we can only do what we can to make it "not as bad." For this, we must thank Oxfam, Mercy Corps and Doctors Without Borders and their 13,000 relief workers. Because of them, mortality levels in 2007 were marginally better than they were before. The U.N. will probably continue to support the refugee camps in surrounding countries like Chad.
Of course mitigation is better than nothing.
Another 'victory' for the Bush administration.
To protect its investment interests, China has blocked every proposed sanction against Sudan. Additionally, the international community's attempt to pressure China has amounted to nothing but a scoff from the Chinese government.
The majority of Americans who were against boycotting the Olympics might respond to me by asking "how is that relevant to the Olympics?" Or maybe they would assert that the games should not become political. In an ideal world, I would agree with the 80%+ of Americans support the 2008 Beijing Olympics. But we are living in a time of desperation. China has the fastest growing economy, and consequently the United States' leverage over China decreases day-by-day. The Olympics were a non-violent way to protest, to place enormous amounts of pressure on China to comply with the international community on key issues like Darfur. I want to stress non-violent.
What now? The prospects of any new sanctions being passed on Sudan are dismal. Pressuring China to pressure Sudan could have yielded phenomenal results. But instead, we will continue on a path of mitigation; rather than stopping the crisis, we can only do what we can to make it "not as bad." For this, we must thank Oxfam, Mercy Corps and Doctors Without Borders and their 13,000 relief workers. Because of them, mortality levels in 2007 were marginally better than they were before. The U.N. will probably continue to support the refugee camps in surrounding countries like Chad.
Of course mitigation is better than nothing.
Another 'victory' for the Bush administration.
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Energy
For the past few weeks, I have been working for a renewable energy firm (Ecovolve LLC). While working for them, I have learned a ton about the mystery that is "renewable energy." There are SO MANY technologies out there that, if brought out of the experimental phase, could help significantly in bringing us to a fossil fuel-independent future. What I love most is that research is being done from all over the globe. Forexample, India is actually leading the research for developing biomass gasification, a novel technology that Ecovolve actually works with. Essentially, biomass gasification converts agricultural waste into a biochar (that can be used as a fertilizer, and also to sequester Carbon Dioxide from the air), and a Hydrogen syngas that can itself be burned to generate heat, or be put in a turbine to generate electricity. Meaning, it can be a way to help people who live off the grid (ex. in a forest, or a remote rural location) get electricity without incurring a 5-8% transmission loss of energy (which results from transporting electricity from a centralized location to a place 100-1000 km away). Yay! I'm so happy to be a part of the battle to achieving clean, distributed energy.
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