The Millennial Files

Looking to China for Inspiration

As the general population has begun accepting the existence and consequences of global climate change, there is a growing alarm bell being sounded by some looking to place the blame offshore ? namely China. Figures are being bandied about how it?s China?s growing consumption of oil that will be the real culprit of an increase in global warming. I am reminded of the ?Red Scare,” of the 1950?s which undermined any diplomatic relationship between the U.S. and China.

Many of us who grew up in the 50?s were taught to believe the communists were our enemies, when in fact they had been our allies against Japan in WWII, and it was the Nationalists under Chiang-Kai-Shek who were exploiting American coffers and sympathy. Instead of embracing the idea we could collaborate with the non-Christian country, Senator Joseph McCarthy led the charge that China was a hazardous threat to our “American way of life.” (Sound familiar?), alienating the US from one fifth of the world?s population. It wasn’t until President Nixon lifted the curtain and opened the door to normalized cultural, diplomatic and economic relations, that Americans and Chinese were able to see eachother as human beings, and eventually residents of the same planet. (Those who benefit from the US economy should be immensely grateful– over half of US Treasury bonds are now owned by our Communist cohorts).

A few years ago, we began hearing from those who would rather offshore responsibility. However, just as China had quietly concentrated on rebuilding itself post WWII (with the exception of the Cultural Revolution ), so has it been attending to its own environmental issues and global climate change. In August, 2002, when I traveled to western China to participate in a literacy project with UCLA, I was suprised to find people using solar cookers instead of their wood-burning stoves, even in this most impoverished region in Qinghai province. Not only did this help prevent them from depleting their limited natural resources, it also reduced substantially the local air pollution.

Recently, China’s President Hu Jintao expressed a committment to “giving priority to the exploitaion of renewable eneryg … to deal with th growing energy and environmental problem.” China further pledged to increase their renewable energy to 15% of their overall supply by 2010. Additionally, they have put their money where their mouth is, pledging to rasie about US$180 billion to develop renewable energy from now until 2020. Further demonstrating walking the talk, China’s National Assembly recently codified its committment to renewable energy with the enactment of the Renewable Energy Law.

According to the Renewables 2005: Global Status Report, released by the Renewable Energy Policy Network (REN21) , “Government leadership provides the key to market success.” Considering our Energy Task Force under Vice-President Cheney, and where it has gotten us, America would do well to take a page from the REN21 report and look to China for inspiration.