The CDM can fund clean energy projects like concentrated solar farms (photo via flickr) The UN backed Executive Board of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) has suspended carbon credits for shady chemical manufacturers in China that were producing an excess of pollution and then destroying it, all to get credit for doing good. ...Read the full story on TreeHugger

Photo: Flickr, CC That's a Lot of Chopsticks Apparently China's Ministry of Commerce has had it with disposable chopsticks. It sent out a warning to chopstick makers in June to warn them that: "Production, circulation and recycling of disposable chopsticks should be more strictly supervised." The reason? With about 45 billion disposable chopstick pairs made every year in the country, or about 130 million a day, a lot of wood is being wasted, and that in a country that is trying to increase its forest cover...Read the full story on TreeHugger

Forget for the moment about to what degree climate change has influenced the flooding in Pakistan. A new article in China Dialogue brings to light a new angle on one very aggravating factor on the overwhelming devastation: Illegal logging by the 'timber mafia' has increased erosion, landslides, and even sent felled trees floating down rivers damaging bridges and dams. The original article goes through the timber mafia connection with the Taliba...Read the full story on TreeHugger

Photo via Le Grand Portage China has a water problem. In fact, the only resource constraint standing in the way of their rampant growth is water. There just isn't enough of it, especially in the north. That's why the country has been working on a massive water relocation project, diverting water from the south back up to the parched north. It is the largest water man-handling project since Three Gorges, and it will force the relocation of some 330,000 people. The first of...Read the full story on TreeHugger

photo: Parthan via flickr With the ongoing heat in Russia and the flooding in Pakistan (not to mention landslides in China) everyone's commenting on the connection with climate change, with the appropriate caveat that no single weather event can be linked with it but... Well, here's an interesting addition to those: Dot Earth points out a study from back in 2006 linking increased frequency and intensity of mon...Read the full story on TreeHugger