Everytime discussion is brought up regarding Global Warming or going green someone always brings up that it doesn't matter because the PRC is going to be the biggest polluter. Well they still are going to be but its not like they aren't trying to fix things too. I mean if the PRC is willing to take such steps as encouraging people not to buy cars and even banning cars from major cities maybe the US could take some steps too instead of shirking responsibility to the PRC. http://worldblog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/07/17/273649.aspx CHINA TRIES TO GO GREEN* Posted: Tuesday, July 17, 2007 12:40 PM Categories: Beijing, China By Adrienne Mong, NBC News Producer Around this time of year, conversation among Beijing's expatriates turns to the coming summer holidays: what seaside they'll be vacationing at, what Western foods they'll be eating, which books they plan to read, but most importantly how much clean air they're going to be breathing. Lucky them. August in Beijing is dreaded for its brutal heat and humidity, which conspire with high levels of pollution, dust, and sand blowing in from the Gobi Desert. The air gets thicker and hazier, despite the fact that it's also the rainy season. Just over a year away from the Olympics, one wonders how the athletes will perform under these conditions. Well, the government in Beijing isn't wondering. It's busy battling the problem by instituting new power-saving measures to curb energy consumption in order to reduce pollution and laying the groundwork for, well, near-perfect weather. Beating the elements This week, officials at China's Meteorological Administration are launching a practice session firing rockets into the sky to disperse rain clouds. The drill is designed to simulate part of the climate-control process scheduled to take place around this time next year in preparation for the Olympic Games. Early this month, when Beijing was hit by a muggy mini-heat wave, President Hu Jintao and other senior leaders initiated a creative solution for energy conservation: they swapped their suits and ties for white-collared shirts. The breezier garb comes in handy now that the State Council (China's cabinet) has ruled air conditioners cannot be set any cooler than 79 degrees Fahrenheit. A team of 22 officials are on hand to check that offices, hotels, malls, and other big buildings in the city are observing the new ruling. Authorities will also try out a test-run ban to ease the smog. Beginning the first week of August, one third of the capital's 3 million cars will be taken off the streets for several weeks. Officials have not said how they'll proceed, but it's not their first time. Last November, during a major China-Africa leadership summit, the city banned nearly half a million vehicles, helping to pave – ahem – the way for blue skies. Attempts to tackle pollution aren't limited to the capital city. Workers have continued to build "The Green Wall," approximately a 400-mile barrier of trees and enclosed grassland stretching across China's northern frontier, to be completed by 2010. Scientists in the southern city of Guangzhou are trying to create a new species of trees that can "resist" pollution. In Shenzhen, home to one of China's first great experiments with capitalism, the mayor issued a plea to its affluent citizens to stop buying cars in an effort to help ease growing pollution. Too little, too late? But some wonder whether these steps are enough. A World Bank report, due out soon, according to the Financial Times, claims that as many as 750,000 people in China die prematurely every year from pollution. And according to a recent report by a governmental official, "The model of economic development that we are currently pursuing is unsustainable." China's deputy director of State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) added, "One-third of China's land mass is affected by acid rain. Over 300 million rural residents have no access to clean drinking water. One-third of urban residents breathe heavily polluted air." The report warned, "Thanks to the traditional model of economic development – which is energy intensive, heavily polluting and relies on high levels of consumption – China has become the world's largest consumer of water, largest emitter of waste water and one of the three areas in the world worst affected by acid rain."
pollution is pretty bad there. though, per capital, it's still way less than US. but measures need to be taken now before it's too late. i was pretty pissed when i found out, so many people are buying their own car now. i was hoping for upgrade to public transportion, not going the US route of private owned cars. not enough space and too much pollution. hopefully it's not too late to change people's mind.
I don't think it's possible for China to go green in a macro-sense. Before all is said and done, and with China's ambition to be a world economic power....the amount of overall pollution will definitely increase, and there's no way to stop that. I mean, we can't even figure out our own pollution issues, nor can Europe. China has more people then the U.S. and Europoe combined. And I haven't even brought up India. Forget about these countries going "green" - not until they are wealthy enough that the citizens will put a premium on health over a paycheck.
“When we are richer, we will take more responsibility”. --Dr. Zhou Dadi, of the Beijing Energy Efficiency Center as quoted in Coal, by Barbara Freese.
The environment is still in bad shape there, but you have to admit that their government is in better shape to follow initiatives and stick with it and force compliance. This would never happen in this country because lobbyists are way too far up the butt of congress to ever get this done.
^ I agree. Even while the PRC is struggling to get enough energy to continue to develop their government has the ability and will to enforce green measures. Its still up in the air how serious they will be but I think the damage they are realizing is happening to their collective health will have economic consequences too and are waking up to that. Also the Olympics has been a big incentive to them to clean up. If Beijing next year looks still looks brown that will be a major embarrassment to them. Anyway my point in bringing this up was to point out that many say we can't do anything if the Chinese don't. Well the Chinese are doing something and instead of wasting our time we should take the initiative now in developing and implementing Green practices. Besides the benefits to the environment by taking a leadership role we can market such practices to PRC and India.
Perhaps, but it's all too little to late in my opinion. We can continue to push for green, and you can hope that the developing world embraces green, even though to be honest they have bigger issues in their mind then worrying about smog and the longevity of the environment.... But we have to now plan for whatever consequences may be of a warmer planet - as it's very likely that no matter what is done, we will face it.
After people get richer, first they get air conditioners, then they get TVs, and finally they get cars. None of these are technically necessary to live a "modern" life, but you can't fault them for choosing what they want to buy. The best solution would be to find less polluting and less resource intensive technologies that brings the same thing.
Conservation is important but I still don't believe that we have to greatly sacrifice standard of living to go green in the long run. There are tons of ways to provide power, cooling and transportation without polluting.
I don't think it's been proven. But the planet is warming, man made or not...and if it's not man made, we can't stop it, and even if it is man-made, we probably can't stop it. So the wise strategy is to adopt ala Darwanism - adopt or suffer. It's unlikely we can stop such mega-trends, but can we live with a planet without polar ice caps and higher tempertures? Yes - life has survived on this planet for a billion years.
Sorry to be picky but do you mean "adapt"? If you're saying "adopt" that almost sounds like you are in favor of Global Warming.
Funny man. I am not in favor or not favoring - I just think that change is inevitable and we can't expect the planet to be constant. So yes, we have to adApt.
