The terrible story behind the story of China’s economic boom is the astounding environmental devastation that has come with it. China’s air, China’s rivers, even China’s seas, are deadly and dying. Half a billion Chinese do not have access to safe drinking water.
Problem is, the boom and the environmental crisis are two sides of the same coin — and growth-hungry China doesn’t want to let that coin go…
For three decades now, the number one goal of China has been hyper-growth and development. More towers — like those going up in Shanghai — more factories, more power plants, more coal. And in growth China has succeeded. But the price has been something approaching environmental catastrophe. Can China stop the spiral? It’s not clear.
In this hour, live from Shanghai, we’ll look at China’s environmental crisis, and talk to three people inside China trying to take their country in a new, greener direction.
Have you seen it? The environmental price of China’s hyper-growth? Can China and the world survive together another twenty years of success like this?
You can join the conversation — on the air between 10am and 11am ET, by calling 1-800-423-8255, and here online by posting a comment below.
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Guests:
Joining us first from Hong Kong is an extraordinary woman, Zhang Jingjing. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution calls her China’s Erin Brockovich. She’s director of litigation at the Center for Legal Assistance to Pollution Victims in Beijing. The Center is China’s first pro-bono environmental-aid office. In 2004, Zhang Jingjing won China’s first-ever public hearing for an environmental lawsuit, in a case against a Beijing state-owned power company. In 2006, she was part of a team of lawyers that won one of the biggest legal settlements in Chinese history for 1,600 villagers whose water had been poisoned by a chemical factory dumping chromium. She’s a hero to some, a pain to others.
Joining us in our Shanghai studio is Yang Fuqiang. He is vice president of the Energy Foundation, a group with offices in the US and China that funds initiatives to advance energy efficiency and renewable energy. He has been involved in energy and environmental issues for more than three decades.
From Beijing, Qi Ye, distinguished professor of Environmental Policy and Management at Tsinghua University School of Public Policy and Management. He was part of the international task force that in 2006 called for major changes in governance in China to address the country’s growing environmental problems.
You can listen to the show live on WBUR starting at 10am ET. We’ll have the full audio posted on this page later today.
Links:
President Bush’s Speech on Climate Change, Wednesday, April 16, 2008
In his speech on climate change on Wednesday, President George W. Bush referred to the role of China and India:
“The Kyoto Protocol would have required the United States to drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The impact of this agreement, however, would have been to limit our economic growth and to shift American jobs to other countries — while allowing major developing nations to increase their emissions. Countries like China and India are experiencing rapid economic growth — and that’s good for their people and it’s good for the world. This also means that they are emitting increasingly large quantities of greenhouse gases — which has consequences for the entire global climate.”
“Bush climate plan criticized for lacking urgency” (Reuters, April 17, 2008)
“The world needs tougher action to combat global warming than a plan by President George W. Bush to halt a rise in U.S. greenhouse gas emissions only by 2025, delegates at a climate conference in Paris said on Thursday.”
Choking on Growth
A special series by The New York Times on China’s environmental crisis. Ten installments, all with slideshows, videos, and articles.
Video Profile of Environmental Lawyer Wang Canfa
Our guest Zhang Jingjing works closely with Wang Canfa, perhaps China’s most famous environmental litigator. The New York Times did a video profile on Wang for the TV documentary “China Rises.”
China’s Green Beat
An American on a Fulbright scholarship in China teamed up with a Chinese citizen from coal-rich north eastern China to produce a blog and video podcast on China’s ongoing environmental issues.
The Hungry Dragon: China’s Oil Consumption
A archived television special by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation on sky rocketing oil consumption in China and what it might mean for the future.
Protests Against Chemical Pollution in the Village of Huaxi
In 2005, tens of thousands of peasants took to the streets to protest contamination of their water and soil by local chemical plants. An Australian blogger living in Hong Kong has aggregated many news reports on the protests.
Three Gorges Dam (Human Rights in China)
HRIC reports on “major problems found in Three Gorges Dam resettlement program.”
Chinese State Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA)
The Official Site of the Chinese Government’s Ministry of Environmental Protection.
2006 Report by Task Force on Environmental Governance in China (pdf)
Scientists from around the world were invited to a meeting to discuss China’s environmental crisis and make recommendation to the government as to how to address them.
