Earth Protect Blog

Greetings from China!

This is Diwen writing from China after two year of her venture in New Zealand. I enjoy my time with parents and friends here in China...but ever since I came back, I just cannot stop thinking that how urbanization - which is happening in big cities all over China - has created tension between limited nature resource, and the demand of human society.

I see so many cars out there on the streets from 7 in the morning till 7 at night; people streaming in and out of office buildings and restaurants; factories running 24 hours a day...I just cannot help but wonder: how much energy we are burning to support a city like my city Hangzhou (6 million people) every day? Do we REALLY need that much energy? Are people concerning about making more money every day? If yes then have they ever concerned that they might not be able to spend/invest their money because simply this plant will become inhabitable? Or they have thought about saving up their money for buying last glimpse of greens, last breathe of clean air, or last drop of water?

I've been traveling in the eastern part and western part of China. A completely different world, both economically and environmentally. In nearby Yangshuo, they've taken down most of the brick works, in order to stop air pollution; but on the other hand, people there are much poorer than relatively developed eastern area. I met a girl in Longsheng, a beautiful girl, but very poor. She lives with her grandparents. Both of her parents are working in Guangdong province as migrant workers. She has to walk one hour to a nearby village to go to primary school because the school in her village only has 2 grades. To me, it seems that the collation between economic and environment is always somewhat negative in China. But why?

So just some thoughts/rambling...P.S: it is Chinese new year at the moment, so happy chinese new year! ;-D