China Environmental Law

Shanghai was hit with rains of biblical proportions this morning.  I was drawing up plans for an Ark when they finally let up enough for me to venture out of the house, only to be caught half way to the office in the second wave of the storm.  Many streets and sidewalks were literally under a foot or more of water.  The store front shop keepers were valiantly trying to stem the tide, but a bus would send a wave crashing over their defenses.  There are a few pictures at Shanghai Scrap and Shanghaiist.

Speaking of biblical things, a China Daily reporter references a Genesis story to describe the cone thing that appeared at the end of last night’s Olympic closing ceremony.

A tower that may imply the Tower of Babel rose in the middle of the Bird’s Nest, signifying human efforts to reach out and communicate with one another. Only this time, it was a huge success.

The Tower of Babel is not usually thought of as a symbol for ”human efforts to reach out and communicate with one another.”  Now if you were looking for a symbol of hubris. . . hmm maybe the reporter was on to something after all.

But, this post is supposed to be about me or, more precisely, video of me, shot by Rich at Crossroads.  I sat down with Rich several weeks ago and we talked about environmental issues in China.  It turns out Rich was secretly filming our discussion.  Had I known I was going to be on camera I would have at least shaved, run a comb through my hair, and dressed up.  As it is, I’m looking pretty bedraggled and significantly older than my true age in the 95 degree heat of the coffee shop patio.  Anyway, as they say a video is worth a million words so I think I will have fulfilled my posting quota for balance of the year.  Check it out here.