Official Meeting Type Stuff

My trip to China was a business trip, after all, so Knittah's Dad took me to meetings right away. We started at the Chinese Academy of Sciences.


This is our group from the US along with the outreach team at the Chinese Academy of Science.

We met with Chinese scientists to talk about climate change and how to fix it. There was a lot of serious thinking going on.*



Fortunately for me - I mean, us - we had a delicious lunch! Everywhere we went in China, our hosts always provided elaborate meals and banquets. I even got my own plate this time!




*Knittah says that a recent article in The Economist talked about the Chinese government's slow action and commitment to addressing pollution issues. While some officials and scientists are advocating very strongly for better policies and enforcement, the government is not investing enough money or attention in the problem. Our group is trying to help them change that.

Reporting In

Hi there, Swatchy McSwatchypants finally reporting in! Guess what? I went to China!

I accompanied Knittah's Dad to China as part of US group meeting with Chinese scientists on global warming. But I'll get to that. First, Knittah's Dad had to pack me in his bag to make sure I traveled safely.



It's a very very long trip, although I guess Swatchy Hugz already told you that. I was homesick when we got there, and tried to call you. That's my friend Frank helping me out.



Luckily, our hotel was very nice.



Check out this amazing carved elephant tusk in the lobby of our Beijing hotel! Isn't it cool?



Did you know that Beijing has terrible air pollution?



The Chinese economy is one of the fastest growing in the world, and this has led to lots more cars and buses on the roads and many more factories. The good news is that the government has paid attention to the need to clean the air, especially because of the upcoming Olympics. Even so, Beijing is a big city, and a bit scary for little old me!

Field Trip

One thing you have to understand about Knittah's dad, he loves a field trip. That means going out into the woods, walking around and looking at stuff. So guess what we did with the kids from the Bullis Charter School? Yep! First we hiked through mangrove swamps to look for birds, (my friends had to help me over the lava rocks)

and then we went to the beach to swim, snorkel, and check out the tide pools. Can you see me in the picture to the left? I was explaining about all the animals that live in the tide pools.





There's all kinds of cool animals that live in the tide pools. There's spiny sea urchins and snails, and bryazoans.


I got close up to the barnacles to see what they were doing.


The beach is really beautiful, with coral everywhere.










But if you look closer, you can see that the corals are dying. See how they are turning white? That means they are sick. It's the hot water from El Nino that is killing the corals. Not good. More global warming means more El Ninos and less corals!