China is the most populous nation on Earth. It covers a massive land area There is both great poverty and great wealth there. It is a nominally communist nation - largely free market in practice, but access to information is restricted and government regulation is extensive in many areas, notably the one child policy for reducing population growth.
China is investing large amounts in sustainable technologies such as solar energy, as well as low-carbon technologies such as carbon capture and storage. However, it continues to build large numbers of coal-fired power plants.
Climate action[edit | edit source]
Biodiversity[edit | edit source]
Environment quality[edit | edit source]
Desertification is causing a crisis in China and neighboring countries. Desert storms from Central Asia are causing destruction across large parts of northern Asia. Every spring, dust from China's northern deserts is blown eastward, into Beijing and other cities, even as far as Korea. A blanket of particles coats buildings, cars, and people, and hospitals are inundated with patients suffering respiratory problems. The dust threatens to shut down the city, getting into machinery, closing airports, and damaging crops. It can carry pollution and even potentially infectious disease.
Overgrazing, deforestation, and drought combine to turn vulnerable arid lands to desert, with a loose topsoil easily transported by wind. The dunes are now around 250 km from Beijing.
The Green Great Wall of China is an attempt to reverse the desertification.
- Wikipedia:China Pollution Map Database, Electronic waste in China, Water resources of the People's Republic of China, Water supply and sanitation in the People's Republic of China
Open spaces[edit | edit source]
Wikipedia:Protected areas of China
Community and voluntary action[edit | edit source]
Community energy[edit | edit source]
- Wikipedia:Renewable energy in the People's Republic of China, Wind power in China, Solar power in China
Cycling activism[edit | edit source]
Citizens data initiative: China has the greatest number of bike share systems for a single country (237 in total) (September 2015)[1]
Food activism[edit | edit source]
Beijing's increase in land area from 4,822 km² in 1956 to 16,808 km² in 1958 led to the increased adoption of peri-urban agriculture. Such "suburban agriculture" led to more than 70% of non-staple food in Beijing, mainly consisting of vegetables and milk, to be produced by the city itself in the 1960s and 1970s. Recently, with relative food security in China, periurban agriculture has led to improvements in the quality of the food available, as opposed to quantity. One of the more recent experiments in urban agriculture is the Modern Agricultural Science Demonstration Park in Xiaotangshan.[2]
Shenzhen, China, was once a small farming community and is now a fast growing metropolis because the Chinese government has designated the region an open economic zone.
Traditionally, Chinese cities have been known to mix agricultural activities within the urban setting. Due to the large and growing population in China, the government supports urban self-sufficiency in food production. Shenzhen's village structure, sustainable methods, and new agricultural advancements initiated by the government have been strategically configured to supply food for this growing city.[3]
chinese language websites for city farmers, from City Farmer News
Solar cooking resources in China
Social inclusion[edit | edit source]
Sustainable transport activism[edit | edit source]
Urban sustainability[edit | edit source]
Resources[edit | edit source]
Networks and sustainability initiatives[edit | edit source]
- Friends of Nature FON, Friends of Nature FON (En)
- Friends of the Earth (HK) (Hong Kong), wikipedia:Friends of the Earth (HK)
- Global Environmental Institute (GEI)
- China Green Drinks, listings for 7 cities
Community resources[edit | edit source]
Chaihuo Maker Space, Shenzhen
New workshop - XinCheJian, Hackerspace in Shanghai
Other resources[edit | edit source]
- United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Chinese-language homepage of its website.
- United Nations Development Programme China
Maps[edit | edit source]
commons:Atlas of the People's Republic of China - China pollution map
Video[edit | edit source]
more video: China Green, multimedia enterprise, documenting China's environmental issues
News and comment[edit | edit source]
See separate article: China news
External links[edit | edit source]
- Hong Kong: Conservation in Hong Kong, Ecology of Hong Kong, Nature centres in Hong Kong, Transport in Hong Kong, Water supply and sanitation in Hong Kong
via List of Ashden Award winners, winners in China from 2006 - 2008
wikipedia:List of Ashden Award winners, winner from USA/China in 2009
References[edit | edit source]
- ↑ Sustainable Cities Collective
- ↑ Periurban Agriculture Development in China, Jianming, Cai, Urban Agriculture Magazine volume 9, 2003-04-01. Accessed 2007-07-12
- ↑ Pepall, Jennifer. New Challenges for Chinas Urban Farms IDRC Report (1997a) 21.3.