Convergence of Conspicuity

Anyone who’s been following preparations for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing may have come to a premature conclusion that it would have been better if the International Olympic Committee (IOC) had selected some other city for these games - and i don’t mean Shanghai. Just three months ago, following the Chinese government’s severe response to an uprising in Tibet, the games’ grand global unity vision seemed at the point of derailing from a potential boycott. Then an earthquake struck Sichuan, stretching thin the premise that this is the right time for China to be throwing the world’s premier sports extravaganza (out of respect for the ~80.000 dead). Environmental problems have been generating concerns about the efficacy of Beijing as host city, and censorship continues to be a sticking point for those who believe that countries in which media activists are thrown into prison should not be celebrated as beacons of fair play. As someone who is not very interested in the sports world but extremely concerned about the planet’s health, i would posit that the Beijing Games have served to generate an obviousness about the latter that probably could not have happened were the games to be held in any other country.

This week, the IOC released a statement expressing its satisfaction with how preparations have been proceeding, asserting that “these Games have set a gold standard for the future,” while also acknowledging that air quality remains a concern. An article in Le Monde this week quotes world champion of the 100 and 200 sprints, Tyson Gay, as saying that many people have been telling him to wear a mask, which he refuses to do. According to Le Monde, particulate matter concentration in Beijing’s air remains well above the WHO’s acceptable limit. Chinese authorities have told Beijing area residents that if possible, they should work at home, and official business hours will be reduced from 20 July onward. If the air quality does not improve, i think some of the events won't be allowed. High polluting vehicles have been banned from the city and industrial emitters are being shut down altogether for the duration. With car sales in China increasing at the rate of 15% (10 million cars sold this year), this problem clearly will NOT be drastically impacted by a mere month of controls on vehicular use. However, one has to hope that China’s budding environmental movement will take advantage of the attention air pollution in their country is receiving and use this olympic-sized window of opportunity to generate some deeper national thought about the consequences of having a billion cars on the roads.

The other significant environmental problem has been an algae bloom covering more than 12,900 square kilometers (5,000 square miles) of the Yellow Sea off the coast of Qingdao, where the Olympic sailing regatta is to be held. As of 30 June, 100.000 tons of algae had been removed, and the cleaning operation continues unabated. Outside of the official government line that the algae has drifted in from the deep sea, the scientific as well as lay consensus is that sewage and high phosphate-nitrate runoff from agriculture and industry are responsible for causing this freak phenomenon. (‘Freak’, in case you haven’t noticed, is now becoming the norm for describing a whole range of environmental events around the globe: typhoons, tornadoes, infestations, etc.) Here’s a short clip of the algae removal operation, just to be sure everyone reading this has an accurate visual of what we’re talking about here, in terms of scale.

In a time when millions of people are suffering from malnutrition and outright starvation, seeing all this rich green plant matter being carted away to probably be dried out then thrown on a fire (after the Olympic games, of course) i couldn’t help but think we’re seeing a lost opportunity here of some magnitude. It turns out i was right, but not in the area of food production, directly. Algae are extremely greasy, using the vernacular, and in fact are the source of many of the oil deposits on which our material existence has come to depend (yes, it’s fun to think we’re using decomposed dinosaurs to run our air conditioners, but percentage-wise, the dinos of the Jurassic can’t hold a candle to their microscopic counterparts). To read about the progress that’s already been made in developing algae-based biofuels is to hit one’s head against the wall listening to G8-types lament the rock vs. hard place decisions they’re being pushed to make with respect to grain-based fuel.

"Algae have long been known to produce lipids that can be used for biodiesel production," says Dheepak Ramduth, [a lead researcher affiliated with the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research in South Africa]. "With the current worldwide focus on cleaner fuels and environmental awareness, algal biodiesel is an attractive option, as the specific production of oil per unit biomass is extremely high in algae compared to most seed crops. Current biodiesel technologies utilise oil seed crops that are either food crops themselves or could potentially compete with food crops for limited arable land and hence threaten food security in the country," says Ramduth.

Somewhat predictably (since alternative fuels development is consistently stifled in the US), the US National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Colorado was working on algal energy development 25 years ago. Their final report on the potential of of algal biodiesel can be found here. Based on the research conducted, these folks reached the conclusion that, “… Algal biodiesel could easily supply several ‘quads’ of biodiesel – substantially more than existing oil seed crops could provide. Microalgae systems use far less water than traditional oil seed crops. Land is hardly a limitation. Two hundred thousand hectares (less than 0.1% of climatically suitable land areas in the US) could produce one quad of fuel.” [italics mine]

Quite a few countries and small firms have been pursuing this technology, with a company in New Zealand announcing in 2006 they’d produced their first sample of algal biodiesel from a sewage plant. In additional to alternative vehicular fuel, scientists have also been working on photobioreactors which can be used – get this – to scrub pollutants out of coal and other industrial plants, the “waste” product - pure algae with high carbon content - then sent on to become FUEL or food. Check out this tour that Alan Alda took of MITs unit, which certainly spun my head around - very impressive.

Let’s imagine that China installed these reactors at just 10% of their coal-fired power plants. It seems the impact on air quality would become significant in a rather short period of time. Herein lies our convergence of conspicuity. Technologies exist for us to manage at least some our technological needs or expectations in a way that uses harmless natural processes, i.e. PHOTOSYNTHESIS. These solutions are there, right in front of us: solutions for fuel, solutions for food (not referring to algae here, but the food crops we already grow that are being used to power cars instead of feed humans), even solutions for capitalist stalwarts who’ve got money to invest but refuse to do so because the current oil=profit structure is too deeply imbued in their greedy little subconsciouses.

Can it possibly be made any more obvious? 100.000 tons is a whole lot of cost-free fuel doing a whole lot of scrubbing. Olympic athletes running the track in breathing masks – unquestionably the most fit of all human specimens - are a sure sign that most mammals cannot continue to live a healthy basic existence in today’s as well as tomorrow’s urban context (fanning out to rural, as well). Industrial leaders wringing their hands over food shortages caused by seed crop diversion to fuel (“Oh George! Oh Gordon! They’re not going to take away our golf courses to grow potatoes, are they?”) – please, spare us the ethical horror of repeating that scene yet again, and of seeing China excluded from the whole conversation. Having the spotlight shine on them this year, amid these myriad crises, the Chinese Olympiad has also served as an opportunity to concentrate our awareness of the urgency – and the possibilities – we face in dealing with our planetary catastrophes. When that gun goes off, Olympic Games runners know they better get moving if they want to carry a medal home at the end of the day. In the race for human survival, what will motivate a critical mass? Not another military invasion of someone else’s oil fields, i hope, nor a repeat of the Chernobyl disaster. Isn't it enough to know that we beat Chevron's odds? Personally, i'm fine with China being the hub of us leading ourselves out of Catastrophe Planet.... though they may well need a small revolution first, which makes them no different from the rest of the world, as much as some might like to believe otherwise.