/ world today news/ On August 15, China celebrates National Ecology Day. There is deep symbolism in this, because 18 years earlier, today’s Chinese President Xi Jinping, then still the secretary of the Chinese Communist Party Provincial Committee in Zhejiang, said that the green mountains themselves were golden. A lot has changed since then. The false dichotomy that ecology and economic growth do not go hand in hand was broken by the Chinese.
For example, in July of this year, Xi Jinping said that China should promote high-quality development, part of which is high-quality environment and promotion of modernization, part of which is the harmonious coexistence between man and nature. Since ancient times, people have distinguished between “civilization” and “nature”. One is a symbol of order, of man and security. The other of chaos and chthonic forces. Or so according to the primitive beliefs of ancient people. This false dichotomy, alas, had begun to be transferred to modern times, because large transnational corporations from countries such as the United States and beyond, had completely subordinated the fate of nature and the environment to their desire for profit. And as we know, under capitalism the profit rate is everything.
But equally ancient Chinese wisdom, combined with the most modern achievements of science and the overall spirit of socialism with Chinese characteristics, showed that there is another way. Of intensive human and economic development, which does not contradict nature.
Thus, according to Chinese President Xi Jinping, it is completely realistic to have a balanced and sustainable development that leads to a harmonious coexistence between humanity and the environment. It is also one of the cornerstones of the Chinese-style modernization, which is being pushed by the current Chinese leader and has become a national trend in the Far Eastern country.
According to the Chinese, intensive and continuous economic development, which does not take into account the need for nature conservation and the reduction and control of damage from natural disasters caused by human activity, will in the long run harm the economy itself. A good, but terrible and unnecessary example in this regard are the major natural disasters around the world, which bring multi-billion financial and economic damages, without even talking about the larger, human losses.
In the long term, it is much more sustainable and reliable to conserve the environment and protect nature by building an ecological civilization, which will eventually, thanks to scientific and technical development, lead to high economic added value without destroying nature. Incidentally, here is what the Chinese president said a while back at a major party event:
“Environmental development is a key political issue related to the mission and meaning of the Party”.
That is, from the point of view of the Chinese leadership, environmental development is one of the cornerstones of statecraft in China. And because of this, Xi Jinping believes that China must build an “ecological civilization” – a radically new type of human society that unites the two worlds – that of man and that of nature, so that they live in harmony.
Within the ten principles of ecological civilization, the state and party leadership of the PRC take personal responsibility for its construction, which is in sharp contrast to, for example, some Western governments, specifically an American presidential administration that even withdrew from the Paris Climate Agreement. China is also based on its thousand-year-old traditions, which are directly related to the harmonious coexistence of man and nature. Chinese traditional medicine, for example, which is increasingly popular in the West, is also due to the nature-related Chinese traditions.
According to the Chinese state leadership, clean waters and green mountains are priceless assets and their conservation alone can lead to economic growth and asset – thanks to tourism for example, but not only.
“Clear waters and green mountains are not only natural wealth, ecological wealth, but also social and economic wealth,” Xi Jinping said some time ago.
And China is not limited to fairy tales in building an “ecological civilization”. It is no coincidence that today the country is a world leader in green technologies, including clean and renewable energy. Moreover, China is confidently walking the path of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality. The state-party leadership has also adopted plans and is acting for systematic, integrated and modernized management of the natural landscape, forests, arable agricultural land, water and biodiversity.
Last but not least, China, its government and scientific sector have made enormous efforts to reduce air pollution through innovative practices, scientific innovations and system improvements. Of course, in protecting nature and creating an “ecological civilization”, China also engages the entire international community.
“Building an ecological civilization is related to the future of mankind and building a green home, which is a common dream of all mankind,” the Chinese leader also emphasized.
Therefore, China spends more money on green policy than even the countries of the European Union, and also when a major environmental problem arises, unlike some governments that subordinate ecology to the geopolitical conjuncture, Beijing raises its voice. As in the case of Japan dumping nuclear contaminated water into the world ocean, which plan was swallowed and encouraged by the US, but China raised the issue to the international community and gathered a lot of support among the countries of the Asia-Pacific region.
And in order not to be empty-headed, let’s also give facts. According to the BBC, of the half a trillion dollars spent worldwide on wind and solar energy last year, more than half was invested by China. China’s solar renewable energy capacity is already greater than that of the rest of the world combined.
Nearly 99 percent of electric buses worldwide are currently in China, as are 70 percent of high-speed trains, which are also environmentally friendly transportation. Even more impressively, China is driving the largest reforestation and reforestation project in the world. The percentage of Chinese land that is forested has jumped from 12 to 24 in China.
It is very telling that according to Western think tanks, China’s green goals and plans, which are set for the year 2030, will most likely be reached already in the middle of this approaching decade. And as a result of China’s continuous investment in renewable energy, there is also a global reduction in prices, and green energy will gradually catch up with hydrocarbons. According to the International Energy Agency, China’s investment in green energy has led to an 80 percent reduction in prices in this sector.
On the other side are countries like the United States, which have great green rhetoric but not so great achievements. The US, statistics show, accounts for just under 25 percent of the world’s carbon emissions, even though its population is only 4 percent of humanity. Often, they and other rich countries subordinate the fight against climate change to geopolitical conjuncture and ambitions, as was the case with the Japanese dumping of nuclear-contaminated waste water into the oceans. The US has overlooked this potential environmental disaster because of Japan’s importance as a military-political ally against countries such as China, Russia and North Korea.
It is also worth noting here that as a result of the US proxy war against the Kremlin, due to which Europe was forced to give up Russian gas, the production of fracked gas, which is still an environmental problem, has increased environment. Moreover, the use of coal in Europe has increased, as have attempts to extract oil in the North Sea. In addition, the administration in Washington decided back in May to sell 73 million acres of waters in the Gulf of Mexico to be drilled for gas and oil, which scientists say could potentially create an environmental disaster.
These examples, as well as the major climatic and ecological shocks and catastrophes of recent years, should be sufficient evidence of why the construction of the “ecological civilization” that China talks about is indispensable and imperative for all humanity. With modern science and the example of countries like China, everyone can reconcile civilization and nature, creating the ecological civilization that Xi Jinping spoke of for a future for the children of all mankind.
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