Environmental Crisis in China (Video News)

Welcome to Planet 100 for July 27, 2010. Here's what we're covering today.

WATCH VIDEO: Environmental Crisis in China

China's Undrinkable Water
The true costs of China’s rapid growth are becoming apparent: only HALF of it's water supply is undrinkable while a quarter is entirely unusable even for industrial purposes because it’s so badly contaminated!

According to Reuters, the main culprit for the state of China's water is its heavy industry and agricultural sector's overuse of pesticides and fertilizers, resulting in 189 of the China’s 443 cities experiencing acid rain.

While regulators are reportedly having some success in reigning in pollution, they still have a long, long way to go.

Via: TreeHugger

Story of Cosmetics
Annie Leonard, who made a huge splash with her viral video The story of stuff, at it again with a new short called The story of cosmetics.

In her straightforward, easy to understand style, Leonard explores all the toxins lurking in our bathrooms, from shampoos to deodorants to lipstick, and highlights how these products are hardly even tested, much less regulated.

Watch Annie's great video on Huffington Post Green, and find out more about the pending legislation to better regulate these products at the campaign for safe cosmetics website.

Via: Huffington Post Green

Plastiki Journey

David de Rothchild and his crew abroad the Plastiki just completed their 130 day, 8000 nautical mile journey from San Fransisco to Sydney via the Great Pacific Garbage Patch on their catamaran made from 12,500 recycled plastic bottles. Proving plastic can have a second life.

Via: Inhabitat

CREDITS
China River ©AP Photo/Eyepress
Industrial factories ©Karen Huntt/Getty Images
Factory Farm ©AP Photo/Elizabeth Dalziel
China city ©Tim Graham/Getty Images
Annie Leonard Courtesy of Story of Stuff
David De Rothschild on boat ©Getty Images
Garbage Patch ©John Lund/Getty Images

VIDEO: from Story of Cosmetics