China: economic powerhouse, environmentally unsustainable - part one

At the same time, the extreme worship of wealth has lead to a decline in consideration for others and a breakdown in social ethics and values. Affairs relating directly to the national economy and people's livelihoods such as conservation, education and poverty alleviation have been neglected. Disadvantaged groups have been marginalised, and the poor have lost all moral support and sense of belonging. Moreover, criminal forces and dangerous cults have expanded by taking advantage of the situation.

The excessive pursuit of wealth means that disproportionate amounts of political and economic resources are put into a small range of industries closely related to economic growth. The intricate and complex entanglement of the interests of government departments, various groups and regions has seen an unprecedented increase in the pursuit of short-term gain. This has become very common, and public interests, including the environment, are often unscrupulously violated under the banner of “development”.

As the short-term economic figures increase, so do the most serious forms of injustice and corruption.

Four paths

There are four different ways of approaching the issue of environmental protection: it can be seen as a specialised and isolated field in itself, as an economic issue, as a political and sociological issue, or - at the highest level - as a cultural and ethical issue. In China, we have always looked at the environment as an isolated subject, whereas abroad it is already being treated as a political and sociological issue.

In the last few years, the conflict between the environment and the economy has become unprecedentedly intense - the environment has begun to place limits on economic growth, and economic growth has destroyed much of the environment; this has led to our conservation work being rapidly elevated to the economic level.

However, the state still has no systematic policy framework on the issue of the economy’s confrontation with the environment, and has not developed ways of thinking or cultural theories on the issue. There have not been any fundamental changes, and the environmental protection system has not caught up with the new “economic” way of looking at the issue. On a global scale, the environment has long since moved on from being an isolated problem - it is interrelated to all other issues.

So why is the environment considered an economic problem? Because damage to the environment is seriously restricting economic growth. The World Bank has calculated that currently between 8 per cent to13 per cent of China's GDP goes towards paying environmental costs.

Lots of people think that we should wait until we have reached a higher level of wealth and development, before setting about repairing the damage we have done to the environment. The developed countries did this, they say, so why can't China? The answer is that China's population structure does not allow it. We do not have overseas colonies and access to their environmental resources, and we do not have the same advantage in terms of capital and technology.

The longer we wait, the harder it will be for economic success to pay for damage done to the environment. If we stick to the current model of development, then in 15 years our GDP will have increased four-fold, but the pollution will have increased even faster. It is possible that before we have built up enough of a material foundation, an environmental crisis will have broken out, bringing with it other kinds of crisis.

Everyone wants to perform well. If I was the mayor of a town, or the head of a county, I would also see development and wealth creation as my priority. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is the main standard by which good is measured, and the idea of “pollute now, clean-up later” has become ingrained. The thinking behind this idea is that we can enjoy life now, and the responsibility for clearing things up can be passed to younger people 15 years from now.

But there is a flaw in this thinking: an ecological crisis is creeping up on us much faster than we imagine, and those at risk are not later generations, but ourselves. If the current model of economic development is followed for another five years, the symptoms of the crisis will become ever more apparent.

Everyone knows that we have to choose a new path: a third way that means the environment and the economy will both benefit. This is the path of clean production, a circular economy with new energy sources. Other countries have already shown that these methods can be successful. Western countries have abandoned earlier methods of production in favour of ecologically sound industries.