AIR Issues
under the dome
Chai Jing’s movingly personal documentary exposing the dangers of air pollution in China’s capital has effectively gone viral. With over 100 million views on Tencent and Youku portals, the success of Chai’s documentary has shocked the nation as much for its content as for the surprisingly supportive stance of the government. Inspired by her own fears for her unborn child's safety, Chai set out to expose the realities of China's air pollution. Referring in the below quote to her daughter's first year of life, Chai's personal story has hit a melancholy chord with urban women across the nation.
Under the Dome Under the Thumb?
March 4, 2015
The commitment, albeit small, shows the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) directly responding to popular protests across the nation targeting incidences of environmental damage and pollution. In 2013, the State of the Environment report recorded 712 cases of “abrupt environmental incidents”, a rise of 31% from the previous year. Yang Chaofei, the vice-chairman of the Chinese Society for Environmental Sciences, told members of the powerful Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress that environmental protests have been growing 29 percent annually from 1966 to 2011.
The CCP has already pledged to increase transparency over environmental issues, and many local governments have begun initiatives to sanction and punish major polluters and offer financial incentives for greener living.
However, for its 1.357 billion people, more than 50% of whom live in urban and built-up areas, these initiatives are not enough.
The environmental impact of China’s rapid industrialisation is physically manifest within local communities. Beijing residents are often forced to remain indoors with their air filters as skyrocketing pollution levels continue to rise; inhabitants surrounding the Yellow River, one of the country’s most important waterways, must watch as its dwindling waters pollute surrounding farmland; citizens of Guangzhou have not dared to swim in the Pearl River for more than a decade, considering the waste products pumped into the waterway by the region’s many production facilities and factories.
Smog casts a shadow over our entire lives. For half the year I had to keep her locked up like a prisoner. In the morning I’ll sometimes find her standing at the window pressing her hand to the glass, showing me she wants to go out.
Chai Jing, Under the Dome (2015)
As countries and continental governments begin to propose the emissions commitments that will be submitted in early 2015 in the lead-up to the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris, the European Union’s high standards have put pressure on other world leaders to commit.
China’s proposed commitment is physically marginal in comparison to that of the United States, and the US target of a 26-28% cut can still be considered reasonably conservative, considering the US developmental position. Both commitments pale in comparison to the EU target to reduce emissions by 40%, which some critics consider easily within reach if the region commits to shifting “at least 27%” to renewable energy supplies by 2013.
However minimal the commitment, any commitment on climate change is critical when coming from Beijing. The agreement can be seen to represent the government’s increasingly promising attempts to pacify popular protests across China, targeting environmental detriment and the associated health issues.
Though the new climate policy would not begin until around 2030, a vague and far-distant point at which the country’s carbon dioxide pollution is expected to peak, the county will strive to reach that peak sooner.
Citizens are increasingly prepared to challenge authorities over volatile livelihood issues… Official and scholarly statistics, based on law enforcement reports, suggest there are 300-500 protests each day, with anywhere from ten to tens of thousands of participants.
Human Rights Watch, World Report (2014)
According to Human Rights Watch, citizens in China are specifically prepared to challenge authorities over issues relating to environmental degradation. With the international acceptance of responsibility in the continue fight against climate change, and in consideration of Chinese citizens’ vested interest in the subject, to all intents and purposes it seems as though Beijing has finally begun to turnaround its environmental policy.
With the international acceptance of responsibility in the continue fight against climate change, and in consideration of Chinese citizens’ vested interest in the subject, to all intents and purposes it seems as though Beijing has finally begun to turnaround its environmental policy.
However, individual incidents of suppression continue to tarnish environmental politics in China and prevent the issues from gaining political momentum, such as the case of environmental activist Wu Lihong, who spent three years in jail after exposing the toxic state of the Tai Lake outside Shanghai.
A lack of freedom of information directly contributes to the stagnation of China’s environmental reforms.
Though many policies and incentives may be published, the Chinese government must mobilise the nation in order to truly affect tangible change in the next fifteen years. Curbing carbon emissions is just the beginning. Mass mobilisation and changes to everyday energy use by the country’s 1.357 billion people would have a much more broad-reaching effect than any international agreement.
An ironic side-story accompanies China’s environmental promises, as Beijing launched an impressive top-down short-term curb on emissions in the lead-up to the APEC Summit. The term “Apec blue” was coined to describe the rare instance of blue skies across the capital, which returned to hazardous levels the weekend following the Summit.
 |  |  |
|---|
