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Fuwa to Promote Green Olympics

Fuwa – animated characters representing the five elements of nature and four animals from regions in China – will do double duty in the coming years, serving as the 2008 Olympic mascots as well as ambassadors for a greener planet.

The Fuwa will be joined by Chinese celebrities at the center of a national campaign to raise environmental awareness of such problems as air pollution, climate change, access to clean water and sustainable consumption. The creatures will be featured in a series of animated public service announcements, documentaries and TV shows that will air on Chinese television and on big-screen TVs at the 2008 Olympic venues.

The campaign is the outgrowth of a partnership between the United Nations Development Program and the Chinese government, which hopes to keep attention focused on environmental issues past the 2008 Olympic games all the way until the 2010 Shanghai Expo. By also using green materials to build Olympic venues and shuttling Olympic athletes around on fuel-celled buses, the government of China will try to showcase environmentally friendly solutions and materials.

As the world becomes increasingly concerned about global warming, China is gaining attention as the world’s second largest emitter of greenhouse gases from its growing reliance on coal-fired power plants. However, China, India and other developing countries were exempt from the Kyoto Protocol, which sets international goals for reducing greenhouse gases. The United States, the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases, has so far failed to ratify the agreement.

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To read more about this and other environmental health issues, go to: www.environmentalhealthnews.org, www.ourstolenfuture.org, or www.healthandenvironment.org