Environmental Consciousness in China

Environmental Consciousness in China: Change with Social Transformation discusses the status of environmental consciousness within China from both an economic and political view. It then compares and contrasts the situation in China with Western nations. This is the first book that includes a comparison of urban and rural groups based on China’s unique modernization background. Considers China’s environmental record from an historical perspective Assesses the current state of environmental consciousness in China Discusses likely future trends in environmental consciousness Compares China’s record on environmental consciousness with Western nations

China has been experiencing extraordinary economic growth for over two decades. Behind the remarkable statistics, however, it is facing a pressing issue: balancing its economic development needs with protecting its environmental resources. The environmental issue in China has a profound impact on the rest of the world as well, in such concerns as global warning and ethical and legal considerations about environmental enforcement. This book covers a broad range of topics, from specific environmental assessments in key sectors (i.e. desertification) to the policy implications of China's entry into the WTO. The contributors include scholars, government officials, business consultants, environmental science and technology experts, and others based in China and the United States. Sharing perspectives that reflect their diverse backgrounds, these experts offer valuable insights for handling the emerging opportunities and challenges of doing business in China.

China's huge environmental challenges are significant for us all. They affect not only the health and well-being of China but the very future of the planet. In the second edition of this acclaimed, trailblazing book, noted China specialist and environmentalist Judith Shapiro investigates China's struggle to achieve sustainable development against a backdrop of acute rural poverty and soaring middle class consumption. Using five core analytical concepts to explore the complexities of this struggle - the implications of globalization, the challenges of governance; contested national identity, the evolution of civil society, and problems of environmental justice and displacement of environmental harm - Shapiro poses a number of pressing questions: Can the Chinese people equitably achieve the higher living standards enjoyed in the developed world? Are China's environmental problems so severe that they may shake the government's stability, legitimacy and control? To what extent are China's environmental problems due to world-wide patterns of consumption? Does China's rise bode ill for the displacement of environmental harm to other parts of the world? And in a world of increasing limits on resources, how can we build a system in which people enjoy equal access to resources without taking them from successive generations, from the vulnerable, or from other species? China and the planet are at a pivotal moment; transformation to a more sustainable development model is still possible. But - as Shapiro persuasively argues - doing so will require humility, creativity, and a rejection of business as usual. The window of opportunity will not be open much longer.

China's environmental problems increasingly attract global attention, yet critics often overlook the sizable efforts of the Chinese people and government to change attitudes and behavior, in order to improve environmental outcomes. This much-needed bo

This anthology is a book-length study of China's ecosystem through the lens of cinema. Proposing 'ecocinema' as a new critical framework, the volume collectively investigates a wide range of urgent topics in today's world.

China’s extraordinary economic boom since the late 1970s has been accompanied by massive urbanization, with the proportion of the population living in cities rising from 18% in 1978 to 54% in 2014. Currently the Chinese government has amongst its objectives the target to increase this to 60% by 2020, and also to improve the quality of China’s cities. This book examines a wide range of issues connected to China’s urbanization. It considers the many problems which have come with rapid urbanization, including urban housing problems, difficulties affecting rural migrants in urban areas, and a lack of social protection. It examines areas of current reform, including land reform, shanty town renewal and moves to address environmental problems. It explores governance issues, and throughout assesses how urbanization in China is likely to develop in future.

Though China's economy is projected to become the world's largest within the next twenty years, industrial pollution threatens both the health of the country's citizens and the natural resources on which their economy depends. Capturing the consequences of this reality, Bryan Tilt conducts an in-depth, ethnographic study of Futian Township, a rural community reeling from pollution. The industrial township is located in the populous southwestern province of Sichuan. Three local factories-a zinc smelter, a coking plant, and a coal-washing plant-produce air and water pollution that far exceeds the standards set by the World Health Organization and China's Ministry of Environmental Protection. Interviewing state and company officials, factory workers, farmers, and scientists, Tilt shows how residents cope with this pollution and how they view its effects on health and economic growth. Striking at the heart of the community's environmental values, he explores the intersection between civil society and environmental policy, weighing the tradeoffs between protection and economic growth. Tilt ultimately finds that the residents are quite concerned about pollution, and he investigates the various strategies they use to fight it. His study unravels the complexity of sustainable development within a rapidly changing nation.

"The UN Climate Conference in Copenhagen made clear that the fate of the planet rests in large part on the environmental policies of two superpowers: China and the United States. This volume could nut be more timely with its analysis and comparison of environmental policy in China and the United States."-Carlos Davidson, San Francisco State University "The strength of this hook lies in the contributors' shared and genuine attempt to explore the potential of mutual learning in environmental protection between the United States and China. The comparative case studies included in the volume are coherent as a whole, and highly relevant to the field of environmental politics individually."-Fengshi Wu. Chinese University of Hong Kong China is a multiethnic country with a vast territory, a land of diverse ecosystems. With the drive for industrialization in China and the implementation of a "western grand development" strategy in western regions, both governments and people face great challenges in environmental protection and sustainable use of biodiversity resources as a result of growing interaction between human activities and the natural environment. To meet the challenges, governments in these regions need to adopt a series of important policy measures not only to reduce industrial emissions hut also to return farmland to forests and pasture to grasslands and to implement measures of ecological migration to reduce human activities in ecological conservation areas. In this regard, China must not only learn profound lessons from industrialized countries but also search fix international cooperation. The United States provides some good comparative case studies on environmental protection, grassroots environmental management, and conservation policies in western regions. This book attempts to address key questions about Chinese and U.S. environmental policies by looking at the historical development of environmental protection and the current environmental policies in the western regions of the two countries. Sujian Guo is professor in the Department of Political Science and director of the Center for U.S.-China Policy Studies at San Francisco State University, with concurrent appointments as associate dean and distinguished professor at Fudan Institute for Advanced Study in Social Sciences at Fudan University, China. Joel J. Kassiola is dean of the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences and professor apolitical science at San Francisco State University. Zhang Jijiao is professor in the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and droller and chair of the Commission on Enterprise Anthropology, China.

The pace of environmental degradation in China has intensified in recent decades. With rapid demographic and economic growth, the current state of degradation has antecedents beginning hundreds of years ago. Patterns of China's Lost Harmony combines historical documentation with contemporary assessment to determine the degree of human impact upon the country's vegetation, soils, water, air and wildlife. This will serve as an important reference tool for understanding the historical scope of environmental degradation and for assessing attempts to control environmental degradation since the 1980s.

2014 International Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Software Engineering(AISE2014) aims to provide a forum for accessing to the most up-to-date and authoritative knowledge from both Artificial Intelligence and Software Engineering. AISE2014 features unique mixed topics of AI Algorithms, Data Mining, Knowledge-based Systems, Software Process and so on. The goal of this conference is to bring researchers, engineers, and students to the areas of Artificial Intelligence and Software Engineering to share experiences and original research contributions on those topics. Researchers and practitioners are invited to submit their contributions to AISE2014.

Presents an in-depth picture of China today in social, economic and political terms, examining the record of 50 years of Communist rule, its successes and failures.

Major environmental degradation is a serious problem for China as the country's economy continues to grow at a phenomenal pace. In recent years environmental organisations have begun to emerge in China, and in some cases have had remarkable success in affecting policies which would have had significant adverse impacts on the environment. This book, based on extensive original research, adopts a multi-disciplinary research approach to examine environmental activism in China, focusing on four cities. It analyses the nature, characteristics, strategies, organizational modes and influence of what could be labeled a Chinese environmental movement in-the-making. In particular, this volume highlights the specificities of Chinese environmental activism in an increasingly globalizing world, along with a comparison to the environmental movement in Western Europe and North America.

Despite the recent economic crisis, mainland Southeast Asia continues to experience increasing economic integration of previously isolated rural hinterlands, especially in the upland areas of Lao PDR, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Yunnan in China, where demographic pressures together with the development of infrastructure and increased market-orientation of production combine to bring about significant economic and social change in rural areas. These changes have also led to significant environmental degradation such as deforestation, disturbance of water flows, and depletion of biodiversity resources. These and other related issues are addressed in this volume.

Written by experts in Luxury and Fashion Management at SKEMA Business School this exciting new book offers a new perspective that challenges the established rules of the luxury and fashion industry. The authors and contributors examine the evolution of luxury strategy and how the luxury industry is being redefined in the twenty-first century.

This is the third volume in a respected series edited by the Japan Environmental Council. Part l covers the environmental impact of the military, trade, agriculture/food and the biodiversity of forests and rice paddies. Part 2 examines the problems unique to Northeast Asia, the Mekong region, and Inner Asia. In April 2005 this book was awarded the 6th Environment for Tomorrow Award by the newspaper Asahi Shimbun.