Welcome. This is the first post for “Global Warming Solutions,” our First Year Seminar at Middlebury College. This blog will serve as the central meeting place for those of us in the class – and perhaps others who are interested in being part of our process of ‘open-source learning.’
I have sent send the URL of this blog to the new students – Go class of 2012! – and asked them to read the following article in our del.icio.us roll: In the face of environmental disaster, more Chinese are going green Using the comments section below, please address and discuss the following questions:
In what ways, if any, is the fact that Chinese citizens are ‘going green’ related to China’s level of economic development? To what degree should non-Chinese citizens help the Chinese economy more sustainable? How would you assess which are the best means to offer such help? Be specific.
We will discuss your responses on the first day of class – Thursday, September 4th, from 8:00 AM – 10:00 AM in Munroe 314.
Please place your comments below … : )
1. In what ways, if any, is the fact that Chinese citizens are ‘going green’ related to China’s level of economic development?
a: Most recently the country of China has been called one of the worlds greastest economic powers on the rise. With a country whose economy depends highly on its labor force and agriculture it is almost certain that chinese citizens going green would have an impact on China’s economic development. It would seem that China would lose many jobs by shutting down many of its highest polluting industries but in fact many new jobs would be created in the process of creating cleaner industries. Also, as many countries are looking more towards China, it only benefits the country economically to have a cleaner environment that would attract higher levels of exports and tourism.
2. To what degree should non-Chinese citizens help the Chinese economy more sustainable?
a: Any nation should, to the higest degree, help the chinese economy on any level especially in an effort to combat global warming. This current worldwide situation needs the attention and cooperation of every nation not just one looking at the efforts of others or others looking at the efforts of one.
3.How would you assess which are the best means to offer such help? Be specific.
a: Non- Chinese citizens should help by appaulding efforts made by any nation to combat the effects of global warming. Non-Chinese citizens can also provide examples to China on how they can go about performing these actions, such as alternative forms of energy. Many other nations can also willingly to show the benefits of recieving resources from other countries. For instance, other countries should persuade China to lessen its ties on its industries in an effort to allow them to trade, buy and establish a connection with other green countries whose own resources could push China’s industries green.
China’s “going green” initiative relates to China’s economic development because both draw on the countries desire to compete with the more developed global super powers. While America does not have a world-renowned economic policy by any means, its standards surely are a step up from China’s, as citizens can see down a block down the streets of even the dirtiest cities and considering there are not 750,000 premature deaths every year due to contaminated air. China has recognized this area of comparative weakness, and seems determined to improve their unmatched pollution numbers. Non-Chinese citizens can help make the economy more sustainable by serving as a constant reminder of the environmental competition that China right now happens to be losing, they can help ignite the competitive juices that fueled China’s recent economic development.
China’s level of economic development is affected by Chinese citizens ‘going green’ in many different aspects. First of all, by the citizens of China becoming more conscious of the amount of air pollution they are causing, they immediately can begin thinking of more advanced and accurate methods of factory productions without excreting massive amounts of debris, which has therefore made the air and living conditions in China extremely unhealthy, causing thousands of unnecessary deaths every year.
I believe that non-chinese citizens should make a sincere effort to help the chinese accomplish their goals of lowering the amount of air pollution. Since China is not as advanced as the United States in concepts involving the conservation of the ozone layer, I believe that we should strive to help them so that the amount of deaths caused by the smoggy air is lowered drastically.
The economic developement that China has experienced in the past decade has come at the price of much environmental degradation. The Chinese government is beginning to realize, as the US is, and much of Europe has before us, that in order to make the developement they have undergone to be in any way meaningful they must curb the harmful effects it has on the environment.
I believe that environmental sustainablility and moving in a “green” direction is an international concern as well as a local grassroots issue. It is important for ideas that begin locally to spread through open communication on the internet, as well as through travel by environmentally active individuals and organizations. I believe that it is especially important for outside help to be offered in areas such as China, where coal energy and other heavy polluting industries are the norm. It seems that outside help from already established agencies would be most accepted and helpful.
China is an excellent example of economic development stemming primarily from a heavily industrial focus, hence their involvement in environmental conservation follows the appropriate sequence of events. The Olympics was bound to bring a certain amount of pressure on the local government to clean up the environment, but more than criticized, this Olympic pressure should be applauded as it was the reason for concrete action and successful environmental sustainability efforts.
If the Chinese want to continue with their economic growth and be able to compete with countries such as the US, they definitely have to take environmental concerns into account. A huge country like China will not be respected if they keep destroying the land around them. This sort of action is viewed as irresponsible by other powers. I think that the effort to “go green” needs to be a collaborative one, with lots of shared ideas and game plans. We can’t change the direction of things by ourselves, but instead need to work together.
It seems that there are two levels of how ‘going green’ is related to economic development in China. In one way, it’s clear that in order to make sustainable changes in the way that people live, there has to be some sort of secure economic infrastructure so that people will actually care about green technology and living. For example, if there is civil unrest in Kenya or a lack of clean water in India, I’m assuming people will be less inclined to care about the environment. For a country that gets labeled as a “development-crazed country”, it makes sense, at least in some parts of China, that after a certain level of economic comfort can lead to increased consciousness about environment. The more subtle reason seems to be a need for countries that are developing economically to prove themselves as being at the front of the pack in issues of the time, such as ‘going green’. Especially under the bright lights of the Olympics, I feel like China has definitely tried to prove themselves as an accomplished country in the economic sense, and that manifests itself in it’s decision to try to drastically improve their environmental situation.
That being said, I think it is definitely the responsibility of non-Chinese citizens to help the Chinese economy be more sustainable. Specifically, it would be ideal to make all of the latest information about environmental technology easily accessible, and although it might not be in the best interest economically for some countries to share that kind of information, the dire nature of the situation could be the impetus we need to break free of our nationalistic competition and realize that what is most important is the betterment of the world. Then it would be in the hands of each country to work towards creating the kind of economy that can support drastic paradigm shift in the way we live our lives in relation to nature.
I do not think that there is a very direct relation between China’s aim of economic development and their “going green” policies. When one looks at the motives behind such ventures, as commonly displayed in the article, they reflect more of the desire for the materialistic outcomes of “going green” such as aesthetic value of their cities and skies as compared to actual concern for the environment.
There are of course cases where green ventures produce financial benefits to the users, therefore the relationship to economic development are more direct- though these are less intentional as the motive shifts from being for environmental development to financial profit.
These profit-driven ventures hold the inherent risk of going off-track and are therefore less sustainable.
What foreign states and their citizens should ideally do for countries like China is urge the people to change the motive for “going green” from profit-based to conservation-based motives and provide models to follow.
Grass-root level dialogue is always more functional and less filtered then politicised diplomacy regarding information-sharing, thus there should be forums available for such exchange.
By “going green” China is developing economically in the long term rather than short term. In many cases, such as the closing factories, immediately causes for loss of jobs for hundreds or even thousands of people. This lowers the spending of families who depend on those jobs, which in turn hurts the Chinese economically. Turning to more technologically advance environmental solutions, such as the move from roofing tiles to high tech fibrous building panels, can benefit China both environmentally and economically. This is because it lowers emission levels and creates high demand more newer, advance supplies.
Many companies, especially ones in the United States send factories over to China to produce goods. These companies should come up with an agreement with the Chinese to lower the emission levels of these factories because it is the responsibility of both sides. It is needed to help the Chinese become more sustainable because degrading the environment affects the entire world and their production of goods is heavily depended on.
Non-Chinese citizens should help the Chinese economy become more sustainable by sharing new technology. Newer technology may be able to run more efficiently than older ones which would save both time and energy.
i agree with the posts above. at first “going green” would mean that citizens of china will loose many jobs, after a period of time a lot of new opportunities will open up as well.
non chinese citizens helping china such as diff. countries would bring a little more unity within the global community. not only will the new tech. be shared, but if people unite to help china, it would def. cut down the CO2 emissions by a significant amount. especially since China has “sixteen of the world’s 20 most polluted cities are in China…”
I believe China “going green” is a message that China has reached a comfortable level of economic stability. As said before the Chinese seem prepared for the loss of jobs that is accompanying this green initiative and although the motive behind may not be entirely based on the basic desire to protect the planet, the important thing is China feels strong enough to begin doing this. Even so non-chinese citizens definitely need to offer help. Just becuse the chinese believe themselves economically stable doesn’t mean that they wil not need help in doing this. The subject of Global warming is as the name suggests a global problem. Other countries should start just by collaborating with China and sharing information that could be utilized to end this struggle.
At a time in which the “global warming movement” is finally getting momentum, China’s action to “go green” is an inspiring step in the right direction. Indeed, one can say that in the past China’s economic development was as a result of their large population and lack of labor laws; however, as depicted in the article, their current “going green” initiatives are also now proving to stimulate economic development. This is because their initiatives (which include: installing rooftop solar water heaters and shutting down factories that excessively pollute) are proving to be beneficial to both the country and its citizens, and therefore, China has no reason not to continue its efforts to reduce the overwhelming pollution that plagues Chinese cities.
Thus, as China steps forward and becomes a leader in this fight to save our planet, non-Chinese citizens should step up as well and support the Chinese economy. This can be done by supporting trade agreements that further stimulate “green” technology and innovation, or simply by contributing to Chinese tourism in “green” cities; however, either way, we all need to support each other and contribute to the lowering of carbon emissions. This is a critical step for the “global warming movement”; however, at the same time, one cannot overlook China’s negative role in humanitarian crisis such as the genocide in Darfur and Taiwan’s oppression.
Nevertheless, the fight against global warming will have to be universal and supported by all, and thus, it is now time for the United States to jump on board as well!