Click on the headline (link) for the full text.
Many more articles are available through the Energy Bulletin homepage
A Maverick’s “Ecological Civilization” Goes Mainstream
Mara Hvistendahl, World Changing
Pan Yue represents a new breed of Chinese politician: a young, outspoken media darling who switches between East and West with ease. As deputy director of China’s State Environmental Protection Administration, he’s quick to point out China’s environmental woes. But the former journalist is also fluent in Chinese policy-speak. A big critic of capitalism, Pan has, at turns, advocated eco-socialism, once meeting with Germany’s Green Party.
Pan’s arguments for environmental change are pragmatic, citing fiscal responsibility and continued development to appeal to the typical mindset of the Chinese official. He’s been China’s biggest advocate of adopting the forward-thinking Green GDP, which figures environmental losses into GDP calculations. Point out how much money the country is losing to fighting epidemics and cleaning up pollution, the logic goes, and leaders will start to pay attention.
More generally, Pan is a proponent of what he calls an “ecological civilization”: a reordering of society around green concerns. The argument here is similar to the logic behind the Green GDP: the country has no choice. Trailing behind the West in technological development and unable to export its pollution, China has to face the effects of growth. If it doesn’t, things will only get worse. But, Pan says, this gives China a unique opportunity:
[I]t was thought that an ecological civilization would first appear in developed countries, as it is in those countries that ecological crises first occurred. Nevertheless, this expectation has failed to materialize. One reason is that Western countries are able to relieve themselves from ecological crises by depending on their strong technological and financial capacity. The other reason is that the strong inertia of Western industrial civilization will last for a long time and third is that the Western developed countries are transferring ecological problems to less developed regions. While the Western world is losing the opportunity to develop an ecological civilization, there is a possibility for China to realize a leap-forward in this regard.
…The Party Congress news site suggests that “ecological civilization” will be this government’s legacy. Prominent environmental activist Ma Jun has weighed in. And the China Daily recently published a long justification of the idea:
This concept reflects an important change in the Party’s understanding of development. Rather than emphasizing economic construction as the core of development as it did in the past, the Party authorities have come to realize that development, if sustainable, must entail a list of elements including the right relationship between man and nature….[W]e need to put our relationship with nature in a new perspective: consider nature as part of our life rather than something we can exploit without restraint.
(13 November 2007)
Links and more at original.
I think that Pan Yue’s call for an “ecological civilization” is one of the most significant trends in the world today. In my lifetime, China has moved from a weak war-torn country, to a hardcore Communist power, and from there to the capitalist success story it is today. Unfortunately, it has also joined the West in becoming a major cause of global warming. As Richard Heinberg said in his last post:
If people in the industrializing countries (particularly China and India) continue to burn more coal and drive more cars, they will metaphorically cook the planet. These nations have the highest growth rates for fossil fuel emissions, and China is set to soon become the world’s foremost carbon emitter if it has not already done so.
It’s not too much to say that the fate of the planet will be determined by whether China can pioneer an ecological civilization, perhaps leading the way for the rest of us. -BA
All the world must tackle the fallout of China’s growth
CS Kiang, The Guardian
If we do not solve the environment problem in China, the world is going to be in a very bad way, says
—
The environment problem in China is deadly serious. If we do not solve it, the world is going to be in a very bad way. Humanity made a major mistake 200 years ago and now east or west does not matter – everyone is involved.
The industrial revolution improved our lives. But what price are we paying? For 50 years, there has been growth in countries around the world, but growth in China has only come in the past few years. The GDP of China in 2000 was greater than its entire 19th century GDP.
We have 22% of the world’s population and very limited natural resources. China has a third of the world’s average level per person of cultivated land, a tenth of its average oil level, and only about 4% of the average levels of gas. Yet we now consume 12.5% of the world’s total oil, 40% of its cement, 31% of its coal and steel, and 25% of its aluminium.
The disastrously high price of this growth has been the environment. Air and water pollution is costing China 5-7% of its GDP. At stake is the quality of life and health of at least 500 million people living in urban areas. We now have some of the highest cancer levels in the world.
China may have developed, but only 19% of its 1.3 billion people have access to tap water. Drinking water meets state standards in only six of its 27 biggest cities.
China is taking 330 million people out of poverty. Energy has so far been key to this. But fuel efficiency is only 20% of that of the US, and 10% of that of Japan. The Chinese government believes that total energy consumption in China will double again by 2020. By then, 15% of energy will come from renewables, rising to 30% by 2050. In 2003, two-thirds of our energy came from coal. By 2050, that will have fallen to 40%.
We know that we cannot consume to western levels. If we were to use paper as the US does, it would require all the forests of four Earths.
People in China are very aware of the environment problems. There is great demand for improvements. Leadership is listening. In the last two years I have seen tremendous changes. Leaders are asking what they can do and have admitted they must share responsibility to put things right.
But China’s problems are the problems of the whole world. If we do not solve them together the world is going to be in a bad shape.
We need a rethink. I am not optimistic or pessimistic. I am realistic. This is survival. It is part of human nature. It is the most fundamental thing. Everyone wants to survive.
· CS Kiang is founding dean of the college of environmental sciences at Beijing University. He, and Jonathon Porritt, George Monbiot, Bianca Jagger, Nicky Gavron, Rob Hopkins, Maude Barlow and Vandana Shiva, among others, will be speaking at the Be the Change conference at Central Hall Westminster, Storey’s Gate, London SW1H 9NH, from tomorrow until Saturday. More at bethechange.org.uk
(14 November 2007)
China bites the fuel price bullet
Olivia Chung, Asia Times
Amid long lines and a national fuel shortage at gas stations, the Chinese government announced at the end of October that it would raise gasoline and diesel prices by about 10%. It was the first green light Beijing has given for a national fuel price hike in 17 months despite sharp increases in international oil prices during the same period.
As of November 1, prices of petrol, diesel and aviation kerosene are raised by 500 yuan per tonne, or about 10%. A government
…Media reports at that time blamed China’s state-owned oil companies for trying to force the government to raise prices by shutting down some of their refining capacity. The companies, however, had to buy crude oil at record high prices and sell refined products at lower prices set by the government. The nation’s largest oil refiner, China Petroleum and Chemical Corp (Sinopec), and PetroChina, the second-biggest refiner, both denied the allegations.
The recent fuel shortage is mainly caused by surging world crude prices which have eaten into the profits of oil refiners, some of which have chosen to ration supplies or even halt diesel refinery capacity for “maintenance”.
(15 November 2007)
