19.1.2010 von Ines.

For those of you that know how it is in Beijing you will understand how happy I am. There are over 4 million cars registered in Beijing, there are traffic jams almost all day long on the main roads, cars use the bicycle lanes to cut through traffic jams, the bicycle lanes are used as parking lots and some bike lanes have been converted into car lanes or parking lots. What used to be the bicycle capitol of the world has recently become bike hostile. Also cars and buses cut cyclists off, never giving them the right of way.

According to the China Daily news article in an effort to get people back in the saddle again, the local government has now begun an ambitious plan to return byways to eco-friendly cycle routes. The plan was outlined in a directive on Jan 1 from the municipal reform and development commission, which supervises the city’s industries.

The plan calls for better law enforcement to make sure designated bike lanes are only used by cyclists. Bike rental facilities will also be resurrected, with at least 500 stations set to be run by a private enterprise by next year, according to the directive. The authorities will also abandon outdated traffic regulations that marginalize cyclists and make it easier for cyclists to use public transit in populated areas, including the CBD, Zhongguancun and southern Beijing - all to be completed by 2012. The government made the move in the face of rising traffic volume and slower commutes.

This plan, named “Green Commuting”, will also help the city lower emissions, experts said.

“In fact, authorities have been forced to come up with new solutions to solve the city’s traffic deadlock,” said Ou Guoli, a traffic management professor at Beijing Jiaotong University. “Experience from super-sized cities overseas has inspired Beijing to rediscover the lost art of cycling.” Ou said cycling may well take off again, but not before the authorities clear the way by rewriting traffic rules, issuing favorable policies for bike rentals and tightening measures to prevent bike thefts.

This is such great news! I am so happy that the government has come up with this “Green Commuting” plan. This plan will encourage the use of bicycle in the city. And it will make cycling in Beijing safer again. What a bright future! Maybe there will also be some regulations on having less cars in the traditional Beijing hutongs, or even turning them into pedestrian and cycling zones.

Geschrieben in Green, Cycling, China, Beijing | 1 Kommentar »

7.1.2010 von Ines.

Today I went to a lecture organized by Tsinghua SEM and INSEAD EMBA about China’s unique opportunity to achieve sustainable peaceful development held by Dr. Lee George LAM who is Chairman of Monte Jade Science and Technology Association of Hong Kong.

The title was from “factory of the world” to “green economy of the world”. I would like to share some of the things he mentioned (no guarantee that I noted them correctly, sorry for any possible errors):

China uses 9% of the worldwide available oil but only produces 5%. China wants to have half of the cars produced in China by 2020 be cars with alternative energy. For 2030 most cars in China will be either hybrid or electric cars.

China will focus on low carbon emission power. But the energy generated by solar, wind or geothermal will not be enough to support the whole country, therefore the focus is on nuclear power. By 2020 5% of all power plant will be nuclear and they will contribute to 10% of the power produced in China.

China is focusing on railways. The plan is to have 16000km of high speed train tracks by 2020. That will be 4 horizontal lines, 4 vertical lines as well as 2 special lines: Beijing to Shanghai and Beijing to Guangzhou. For example on the Wuhan to Guangzhou 1000km long railway the average (not maximum) speed is 350km/h.

Germany is leading the world in terms of green construction and green houses. China will follow these good examples.

China has a natural shortage of fresh water. The country has only 6% of fresh water of the world but accommodates to 22% of the worldwide population. Roughly 300 cities in China are short of water. 40% of the rivers are polluted. There is acid rain especially in the areas with many industrial production sites. last year there was a drought in China and 2.5 million people were short of fresh water.

China is the number 1 producer of waste. Consumers need to be educated to think sustainable and reduce waste. There is investment in green technology and clean technology and that will increase.

Then Dr. Lee George Lam suggested everybody to become a “Green Leader”. We all should make our daily contributions. Like riding a bicycle (actually, he was suggesting taking a subway, but bicycle is even better as you know) or eating less meat. I think he said that if you eat 500gr less beef, that means you reduced your carbon emission by 500gr. But the main thing every individual that starts taking care about these issues should do is: Spread the word. Educate your neighbors. Inspire your friends to live greener. Set up a green business. Lets make a sustainable future for our next generations!

Geschrieben in Green, China | 1 Kommentar »

17.12.2009 von Ines.

Greening the Beige had a small event called “Fresh Start” to view the video and pictures of this years events as well as capture ideas for next year.

We decided to do a first critical mass bike ride to the event. But unfortunately it was the coldest day of the year. It was freezing and we only had 5 bicycle riders - 2 girls and 3 guys. So in the cold of the night we only cycled very directly to the venue. And we were happy when we had arrived and gotten our free cold drinks. The next CM bike ride should be on the last Friday in January 2010 and I am sure we will have more cyclists.

Geschrieben in Green, Cycling | Keine Kommentare »

28.11.2009 von Ines.

Following the global discussion platform Beijing hosted its 14th PechaKucha Night. As this one was co-hosted together with the Greening the Beige (GtB) closing event the topics were green.

Samantha Woods spoke about the “Green Long March“, Yinghui Zhang-Carraro spoke about “Natural Living in Beijing”, Julien Chol spoke about “Green is More”, and other similar topics. They were all presented in the PechaKucha style: 20 slides a 20 seconds each automatically changing. The speakers had to get to the point and finish within 6min 40sec.

Closing a full week of creative cross-over events, GtB’3 wrapped up its 3rd year of events with a recycled film workshop hosted by Electric Shadows. I had set up to mannequins with my cycling t-shirts, Yakkay helmets and Respro masks.

There was an eco-fashion show with pieces designed by Beijing local fashion designers WillowWillow and Raffles School of Design.

After that I did the world’s first trick bike performance on a bamboo bike! Zack Jiang had made this special geometry artistic bicycle for me so that I can prove that his bamboo bike frames are built stable and they can withhold very strong forces from various angles. Sure a bike frame made out of bamboo is softer than one made out of ChrMoly or aluminum but it is stable. I was able to do my trick bike performance on it! Congratulations to Zack’s design!

Geschrieben in Green, Fixed Gear | Keine Kommentare »

27.11.2009 von Ines.

Greening the Beige organized a film screening premier of the film called “Hope in a Changing Climate” and dinner event. Simultaneously launching on the BBC, Greening the Beige is proud to present this exclusive film premiere from the Environmental Education Media Project. “Earth’s Hope” is a multi-media initiative working to engage the international community in an integrated approach to poverty reduction and large scale ecosystem rehabilitation. The movie was very touching, impressive and inspiring.

Geschrieben in Green, Beijing | Keine Kommentare »

13.11.2009 von Ines.

Do you know about TED? Well if not then you need to check out their website: www.ted.com

Today was the first TED event in Beijing. As it was an independently organized event but with the TED license it was called TEDxBeijing. And I was selected as a speaker! I was so excited when I heard that news on October 30th!!! Since then I was in an extreme speech preparation mode. I re-wrote my speech about 8 times. There were too many topics to talk about. It was hard for me to chose. In the end I chose the title: Changes of Perception. I was wanting people to change their perception about bicycles and re-consider to ride. Especially in Beijing.

And to inspire people that cycling is not just about pedaling I also did some tricks on my artistic bicycle. Of course…

There was some pictures of it on tech.sina.com of me speaking as well as doing tricks on my bicycle. Also I found some pictures of the event on flickr. And more pictures.

This was such a great event! So many great speakers and interesting topics. It showed the different perspectives of Beijing and China. We had live online screening of all the speeches. And the videos will be edited and hopefully soon uploaded. I am looking forward to that. Now I first need to get a good nights sleep!

Geschrieben in Green, Natooke, Performers, Cycling, China, Fixed Gear, Beijing | 1 Kommentar »

21.10.2009 von Ines.

In support of “International Day of Climate Action” (http://www.350.org) the Jane Goodall Institute China Roots & Shoots Beijing Office, Conservation International and Greening the Beige (GtB) invite all of Beijing community to be a part of the global movement that promotes carbon footprint reduction and a healthy, sustainable planet. The event is sponsored by Chevron Texaco China Energy Company and the Nature Museum of China. Additional participating organizations include the China Youth Climate Action Network (CYCAN), Future Generations China through the Green Long March, and several others who are sponsoring prizes for a raffle drawing.

Following in the footsteps of last June’s Beijing Green Train Bicycle Ride our goals for this ride are:
1. To encourage the use of low or zero carbon forms of transportation (in this case, cycling) instead of private vehicles.
2. Gather 350 riders in support of our #1 goal for a city-wide route of 8.8 km
3. To have fun and enjoy the activities, games, and performances at the Climate Action Carnival!

The critical mass cycle ride departs from the Bell & Drum Tower, heading south-east to pick-up a grand total of 350 bicyclists, making its final destination at the Beijing Museum of Natural History 自然博物馆 to kick-off the Roots & Shoots - Jane Goodall Institute and partner organizations hosting the youth-led, fun-for-all “Climate Action Carnival”.

Join the “350 Beijing Green Train” group bike ride starting at 12:30pm (so please make sure to arrive at 12:15pm) to ride together and finish at the Beijing Nature Museum to join the Carnival. For more information and to sign up please visit www.350.org/BeijingGreenTrain. This is the route.

The Climate Action Carnival takes place Saturday, October 24, 2009 1pm– 4pm outdoors at the Beijing Nature Museum. This exciting event features interactive activity booths concerning environmental issues and student projects hosted by local student groups, along with live performances, and a raffle drawing.

So get on your bicycle and come on out! BIKE WITH US! Show Beijing your green side and wear green clothes.

The schedule for the Green Carnival is as follows:
12:00-13:00 Registration of Roots & Shoots student groups
13:00-13:30 Opening ceremony and all student group stations begin games
13:30-14:15 R&S Summit Workshop A: Biodiversity and Climate Change
14:00-14:15 Beijing Green Train 350 cyclists arrive and performances begin on outdoor stage
14:30-15:15 R&S Summit Workshop B: Climate Change and Helping Poorer Regions
15:30-16:00 Presentation of Roots & Shoots Achievement Awards; and Raffle Drawing

Geschrieben in Green, Cycling | 1 Kommentar »

29.8.2009 von Ines.

Today was again a club fair where the Beijing community clubs and non profit organizations could display themselves. The location was maybe not the best to get a “fair” kind of feeling as there were just two straight lines of tables on either side of a quiet street.

The Green Lady Carissa had prepared a table for the “Greening the Beige” group to create awareness for the upcoming events. The first one is the International Day of Climate Action on October 24th where we want to arrange the 350 Beijing Green Train bike ride together with the 350.org. The other big event is the 3rd Annual Greening the Beige Event in November under the theme: “RE-ENERGIZE BEIJING”.

The team was making origami windmills from used paper. They had some clothes made out of used colorful plastic bags on display to demonstrate that waste can be re-used and given a new purpose. The amazing green allies and volunteers came from Beijing Dance/LDTX, China Charity Challenge, New Beijing International Movie Festival, Whole Soul Bakery as well as other individuals supporting environmental awareness activities. And they were handing out fashionable red star pins from Cable 8 Culture Center. Here a picture of a part of the Greening the Beige energetic team:

Geschrieben in Green, Beijing | Keine Kommentare »

18.8.2009 von Ines.

Yes, here it is: The first bicycle shop in China focused on fixed gear bikes! The logo is a green banana and the name is NATOOKE

This store is dedicated to urban cycling. You will not find a bike with gears in this shop, so no road bikes nor any mountain bikes. All bicycles are single speed and mainly have a fixed back wheel, meaning no ability to coast. Like the bikes used in the velodrome these are track bikes with horizontal dropouts in the back end of the frame to be able to adjust the chain tension. This is extremely suitable for cycling in the flat and nicely paved Beijing urban city. The shop has all the different parts required to build up a fixed gear bike like the fixed gear hubs, flipflop hubs, cogs, lock rings, rims, tires, seat posts, saddles, stems, handle bars, handle bar grips, chains, cranks, chain rings, pedals, cages, toe clips, straps… Each customer can chose what brand, what style and which color he prefers so that we can put together that one-of-a-kind unique bike.

This shop also has a huge selection on urban cycling accessories, like T-shirts, lights, bags, reflective bag covers, anti-pollution masks and other things related to cycling in the metropolitan areas.

The NATOOKE store is even more unique: It is the world’s first shop dedicated to fixed gear bikes and juggling equipment! You can find anything here around the topic of juggling: Different sizes, weights and colors of juggling balls, glow balls, contact balls, acrylics, juggling rings, juggling clubs, devil sticks, diabolos, poi, fire juggling equipment, staff, yo-yos, frisbees, rola bolas (also known as balancing boards) and many more fun toys to play with. This is the best juggling equipment that you can get in all of China. It is mainly imported from Europe.

This fixed gear bike and juggling store is located in the center of Beijing city in the trendy new hutong called Wudaoying. That is right next to the North Second Ring Road just West of the famous Lama Temple. There are 2 subway lines that have a station here as well as many bus lines. So if you do not yet have a bike you can easily come by using public transport. Here is a map of the location of the NATOOKE shop indicated by the small green banana:

Geschrieben in Performers, Green, Natooke, Cycling, Juggling, China, Asia, Fixed Gear, Beijing | 1 Kommentar »

18.7.2009 von Ines.

Today I went to the Ritan Park rock climbing wall. It was astonishingly empty for a Saturday late afternoon. Maybe this is due to the hot and humid weather. It was great not to have to wait in line to climb a route. And there were hardly any mosquitoes, not like in the past years.

This evening was the Beijing Burners Without Borders event called DESERT DANCE organized by Greening the Beige. It was a mix of art and music to raise environmental awareness. There was a belly dancer

Jess Meider played her songwriter songs in unusual positions while Federico performed contact juggling.

The whole venue was extremely beautiful. It is a privately owned renovated former temple. Really amazing.

Geschrieben in Green, Performers, Music, Juggling | Keine Kommentare »