Week 1: Introduction summary response

Like most subjects, the broad topic of China’s environment may be somewhat akin to a fractal: infinitely spiraling down into endlessly minute levels of detail. Without the big picture, it may be easy to get lost in the in the hundreds of issues and millions, make that billions, of people. For a big picture groundwork, we discussed the physical geography of the country as well as the broad ideas behind recent historical change in China. Although we were all at some level familiar with these topics, it was rewarding and helpful to actually engage in a discussion about them. For the geographic presentation, I displayed a series of what I considered to be some of the most relevant and interesting maps of China: topographic, satellite, population density, provinces delineation, precipitation, as well as some from the Frank Leeming book that was assigned reading. From the perspective of these maps, we discussed some of the problems that China faces as a country; in particular the contrasting distributions of people, resources, as well as the type of resources seems to drive some of the country’s tensions. From a policy point of view, we mentioned the continuing struggle that China has with other countries over ownership of some territories. Most interesting were the parallels that could be drawn for the geographic features defining human problems in similar ways for the United States of America. Discussion was sparked by the thematic question: does industrial/economic advancement come at the necessary cost of environmental protection? We focused on the conundrum of smaller, rural industries as large sources of pollutants, probably inspired by the Bryan Tilt book. These factories are largely employing outdated, inefficient technologies that are especially harmful to the environment. However, in some areas foreign competition has driven Chinese companies to invest in more efficient, modern technology. Is this kind of competition a potential solution? While laws to protect the environment exist on paper, their enforcement is highly variable. This may be due to the actual power lying in the hands of local authorities, who, familiar with the crushing poverty that has only recently begun to lift for most of the country, value the economic growth of the region over environmental damage. Lastly, we talked about what it will take to solve some of these issues. Will it take an overhaul of the mentality of the Chinese people? As Tilt points out, many instances have occurred recently that highlight Chinese people’s concern for their environment, even if it is first motivated by health and other economic concerns. Nevertheless, it may be a first step in initiating change.