Judith Shapiro, a professor at American University’s School for International Service, has just published a great new textbook called China’s Environmental Challenges. She hopes for this new text to bring together scholars of China and scholars of environmental science, so that people from both disciplines will start to understand each others’ work. I had the great pleasure of attending the release party on Tuesday, and I want to share a few of the book’s main points:
-China’s governmental system complicated! The CPC has passed many ambitious environmental protection laws, however the tiao-kuai (referring to the often uncoordinated horizontal and vertical lines of authority) makes it difficult for these laws to be implemented effectively.
-however, there has been increased participation at the civil society level in China. NGOs are playing bigger and bigger roles! Ordinary citizens are launching more protests against environmentally-harmful businesses.
-The Chinese government must also get past cultural values that work against environmentalism: conspicuous consumptions and global economic recognition.
-Ethnic minorities are also suffering. The Chinese government has a track record of building polluting power plants in minority areas.
There was also a very interesting question from the audience:
What can China learn from the U.S., and vice-versa?
-According to Professor Shapiro, China needs to learn more about our civil society and NGOs, and try to emulate our system. They can also take lessons from our information transparency, which they are already improving in China. As for the U.S., we must learn empathy. Too many Americans are quick to blame China for its pollution and energy consumption without realizing that the Chinese just want a country as developed as ours, with our high level of living standards.
You can get Professor Shapiro’s new book on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Chinas-Environmental-Challenges-China-Today/dp/0745660916
