Attended the BBC Reith (BBC World Service founder John Reith) Lecture Series by International Economist Prof Jeffrey Sachs (Director of the Columbia University Earth Institute) in school today. The talk was about economic progress and saving the environment, with special relevance to China. He felt that international superpowers should be cooperating with each other to bring about greater energy efficiency in the coming years. ( around 2010) Sounds really like a utopian world..very idealistic. He feels that what China can possibly do now is to build power plants that can absorb harmful gases like CO2 and minimise damage caused to the environment, while at the same time not impeding economic growth.
It left me with lots of burning questions...especially so when this topic of interest had been continuously brought up since past decades. Yet nothing much seems to be done. US didn't sign the Kyoto Protocol..so is it going to be a rat race between US and China within the next couple of years?
China...being a growing economic giant, with 1.3 billion population (1/5 of the world's) is not just populous..it's crowded...it's environmentally-stressed. The West has fears about China...are they well-founded? It's probably a new China that the world is looking at now. China is making lots of improvement to reduce environmental damage as compared to past years. Especially so as the 2008 Olympics is nearing (~500 more days!) There were efforts to reduce pollution in many cities. In fact, artificial rain were created to clear the skies many a time. Nevertheless, in Guizhou province, the government closed the coal mines during the 1st month as it was thought to be causing too much damage to the environment. Yet during the 2nd month they were reopened..so it seems, the province's economy is very much dependent on coal-mining..as a result survival and realistic terms were prioritized instead. And this problem doesn't just exist in China alone.
The top end of the government is well aware that there's a need to reduce environmental damage amidst pursuit of technological advancement and economical development. But it's the top-down governmental structure that's causing a lot of problems. The Provincial Government and the Central Government do not cooperate...and thus corruption seems to be eating its way all the time. There shouldn't be attempts to change the way China politics work...for China politics are specifically meant for the Chinese. Western views shouldn't be imposed on the China politics framework in this case. Democracy, free votes, free media and human rights...won't necessarily solve deep-seated problems in China's politics.
A comic strip from the Chinese Newspapers that I read: 全球变暖说法系利益集团炒作？It mentioned global warming phenomenon is a mere hype and the government should not be reducing its energy consumption because of this.
At the end of the talk, we did manage to talk to a research fellow working at a NGO in Beijing..he mentioned the western environmental paradigm and how different they were from China's. Of course...much more could be done...other than talks from academics. :)
InDuLgeD~|11:55 PM|
^yUnz^
21. 25th Feb 1987. pIscEs.
A clash between Idealism & Realism
Learning to appreciate simplicity in a complicated world.
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A comic strip from the Chinese Newspapers that I read: 全球变暖说法系利益集团炒作？It mentioned global warming phenomenon is a mere hype and the government should not be reducing its energy consumption because of this.