I haven't been following the Chinese environmental scene as much since I got to Europe and started my program there, so I was very pleasantly surprised to hear that China recently created a ministerial-level environment department - the Ministry of Environmental Protection. It's headed by the outspoken Pan Yue, former head of the precursor, the State Environmental Protection Agency or SEPA as it was known. Even there, at what many considered a fairly toothless government agency that took a backseat to just about every other arm of the central government, Pan Yue was outspoken and a real crusader about environmental issues, who would even rebuke higher ranking officials in public for failing to do this or that in regards to the environment.
Thus, there's a small amount of hope that China is headed in the right direction, especially if Pan Yue can keep himself out of trouble and out of the cross-hairs of other, more powerful politicos. Already, as this opinion article states, China has made some real progress on instituting regulations and targets. Now it's just a matter of this new ministry having the resources and the ability to implement these regulations down to the regional and local levels. Let's keep our fingers crossed.
From the IHT Opinion pages....
http://www.iht.com/articles/2009/02/11/opinion/edgardner.php
So looking at China's pollution mess, we in the West have been quick to denounce the bad guys in Beijing, blaming them for doing nothing to protect their air, water and people.
But Chinese indifference to the environment is a myth. In the last few years China has begun to take aggressive action to bring its air and water pollution under control.
Here are a few examples:
-China's fuel-efficiency standard for cars is currently pegged at 43 miles per gallon, which means that when America's 2020 standards of 35 mpg go into effect they'll be lower than China's minimum standard of today.
Thus, there's a small amount of hope that China is headed in the right direction, especially if Pan Yue can keep himself out of trouble and out of the cross-hairs of other, more powerful politicos. Already, as this opinion article states, China has made some real progress on instituting regulations and targets. Now it's just a matter of this new ministry having the resources and the ability to implement these regulations down to the regional and local levels. Let's keep our fingers crossed.
From the IHT Opinion pages....
http://www.iht.com/articles/2009/02/11/opinion/edgardner.php
So looking at China's pollution mess, we in the West have been quick to denounce the bad guys in Beijing, blaming them for doing nothing to protect their air, water and people.
But Chinese indifference to the environment is a myth. In the last few years China has begun to take aggressive action to bring its air and water pollution under control.
Here are a few examples:
-China's fuel-efficiency standard for cars is currently pegged at 43 miles per gallon, which means that when America's 2020 standards of 35 mpg go into effect they'll be lower than China's minimum standard of today.
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