CHINA: Shanghai prepares to host the Live Earth concert at the city's iconic Oriental Pearl Tower

A summer smog envelops Shanghai as China's financial capital prepares to host its leg of the Live Earth concerts on Saturday (July 7). The venue of the concert, the Oriental Pearl Tower, stands out against a backdrop of the smoggy skyline as residents walk by, many oblivious to one of the world's biggest global pop concerts in their backyard. The worsening pollution in China has come under recent scrutiny as the nation's top environmental official criticised local governments for failing to protect the environment. Chief of the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA), Zhou Shengxian (pron: joe-sheng-seeann), said discontent with pollution "has resulted in a rising number of 'mass incidents'" -- an official euphemism for riots, protests and collective petitions -- the official Xinhua news agency reported late on Wednesday (July 4). Live Earth organisers said the event needs to lead by example to convince people to change their lifestyles in the long term to confront a climate crisis caused by rising emissions of greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels. So all electricity to power the concerts will come from renewable sources, such as biodiesel. Greenhouse gases spewed out by stars' jets or by the audience's travel will be offset by investments in renewable energy and by safeguarding forests. Some of the concert props at the Shanghai concert are made of biodegradable material, while organisers said they have been in touch with more than 15 local recycling companies to deal with the trash generated by the concert. "But overall, the concert, from the contractors to the venues to the artists, will be carbon offset. We've been audited by PriceWaterhouse Coopers and they are helping make an overall global assessment of the carbon impact of this event. And this event will be carbon neutralised, aside from the diversions that we are doing, to include aluminium, paper, cardboard and organic compost," said Joseph Malki, greening coordinator for the Live Earth concert in Shanghai. Besides Shanghai, the other seven host cities for the concerts are Tokyo, Sydney, Johannesburg, Hamburg, London and New York and Rio de Janeiro. More than 3,000 people are expected to crowd the steps of the city's iconic Oriental Pearl Tower for the concert on Saturday. But many are unfamiliar of the concert and its environmental theme. However, most recognise the need for China to play its part in climate change. "It is possible that environmental awareness is relatively weak amongst people of the older generation because they belong to a period when the country was in its development phase. During that phase, most people would definitely be looking at economic progress, as in how to grow our country richer and stronger. As for people like us, the younger generation, we have a stronger environmental awareness, so it is definitely up to our generation to better our environment," said 25-year-old Miss Sun. "I think it is just a phase, because every country will have to undergo such a phase during its development. So China is just in this phase of development right now, but even though we are now in this phase, we are trying to improve ourselves to protect our environment. I believe that even though there are accusations against us, China should not bear a huge share of responsibility for this," said 24-year-old Fan Zikun (pron: fan-tse-koon). China has been struggling to curb pollution from the factories, mines and industrial plants that have driven frantic growth. It has promised to cut emissions of major pollutants by 10 percent between 2006 and 2010, but last year the country failed to meet the annual target. Despite official promises to clean up filthy air and water, China has recently been struck by a series of pollution spills that have drawn sharp criticism from domestic media.

ITN Source | July 12, 2007

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