Articles by Sara Barz

Athletes forgo masks; Beijing skies gray on Olympics eve

Athletes, journalists, and world dignitaries were greeted with a thick white haze yesterday and today as they descended upon Beijing for the start of the Olympic Games. Much to the Ministry of Environmental Protection’s chagrin, the weather has not delivered the "clear and blue" skies as promised when Beijing was awarded the games. However, as […]

Beijing skies vary days before Olympics

Monday: Taken from a Beijing apartment on Aug. 4:

Tuesday: Proving that the weather and pollution levels are completely unpredictable, the weather of Aug. 5 was sunny and clear:

A silver lining to all this pollution pandemonium? After the Olympic games China will start to monitor two pollutants not currently figured into the Air Pollution Index: ozone and small particulate matter PM2.5.

And James Fallows of the Atlantic reports that at least one of the new four subway lines in Beijing works smoothly.

Gray skies loom over Beijing as Chinese officials announce emergency air-pollution measures

A haze descended on Beijing for four consecutive days earlier this week and made a fitting backdrop for state environmental regulators to announce emergency measures that they'll put in place if air pollution remains a problem. More power plants and manufacturing facilities could be shut down, and more cars pulled from the roads, according to a news release from the Ministry of Environmental Protection.

This second wave of shut-downs would affect small solvent factories that had previously been overlooked because of their relatively low pollutant emissions as compared to iron factories or coal plants. As The New York Times reports:

Richard Cizik and enviro religious leaders speak to Grist on climate leadership

Evangelicals have been absent without leave from the climate change discussion, failing to push the Republican Party to take the issue seriously, according to Richard Cizik, the vice president for governmental affairs at the National Association of Evangelicals. Evangelicals, Cizik said, are looking for "prophetic leadership" to champion the climate cause. Surprisingly, he said that voice may not come from traditional conservative circles.

"The advantage that Barack Obama brings to the equation is that he doesn't have the rest of his party -- a significant wing of his party -- telling him to go slow or do nothing," Cizik told Grist last week when he was in Seattle for an exhibition of wildlife photography at the Burke Museum on the University of Washington campus. He stopped by Grist's office with LeeAnne Beres of Earth Ministry and Peter Illyn of Restoring Eden to discuss the need for religion to engage in the climate debate and take responsibility for its lack of action on the "moral and spiritual problems" of climate change.

Evangelicals AWOL from climate debate

2008 presidential race

Though unwilling to endorse any political candidate and open about his personal alliances to the GOP, Cizik did express his disapproval of the Republican party's stick-in-the-mud attitude toward climate change. He called for "bold action," and rejected the "climate-light Bushisms" that the party has been dangling before the American people. He said he "always liked John McCain for his green stand," but recognized Barack Obama as the "greener" candidate who could take climate action without having to drag his party along kicking and screaming.

A pro-life view of creation

Known primarily for focusing on abortion and other social issues, Evangelicals are latecomers to the climate debate. However, as Illyn said, "creation care" can be considered a way to strengthen and enlarge the pro-life vision.

Illyn also acknowledged Barack Obama for his climate positions, but he's not eager to give up on John McCain: