Dam Bad

Laos’ Plans to Dam the Mekong Could Open the Floodgates to Further Dams on the River

Sathian Megboon is a DJ for 94.5 FM, a radio station in northeast Thailand. It’s a fun gig, he says, because the station broadcasts across the Mekong River to Vientiane, the tiny capital of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, which gives him the chance to take requests from listeners in two countries. Last year, listeners started calling more than usual, but not to ask for the folk songs Sathian likes to play.…
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by: Mike Ives – Autumn 2011

China Prepares to Dam (Another) Wild River

Plan Would Help Boost Nation’s Renewable Energy Use but Harm Ecosystems and People

Some developers love Yunnan Province, in Southwest China, because its three major rivers — Mekong, Yangtze and Salween — hold vast hydropower potential. The Mekong has four dams and counting, and the Yangtze has the controversial Three Gorges Dam, the largest hydropower…
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by: Mike Ives – August 23, 2011

If You Save It, Will They Come?

China’s New Parks

Last May, Sylvia Ning and her family drove to Laojushan National Park, a 419-square-mile protected area in southwestern China. She wanted her kids to see the park, which was established in 2007, because friends had told her it was beautiful and – for now – largely undeveloped. Three hours after leaving Lijiang, a city of about one million people in northwest Yunnan Province, the Ning family car rolled into Liming, a sleepy…
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by: Mike Ives – Spring 2011

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