China's green growth

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Originally Posted by Ard van Blyk

I found the article mentioned before on a web search based on the topic. On Friday i had the luck to a pre-copy of the book Green Growth, Green Profit which also describes green management in China in a chapter.

Now i'm exited about getting other opinions on this. :-)

What do you think about the development in green management in general and especially in China?

The same thing will happen in China as is happening here: big corporations buy up the green enterprises and operate them at their own convenience for maximum profit and minimum public service. Meanwhile, the human population continues to grow to provide all the low-wage labor those corporations need to expand their market share, pay more multi-million dollar bonuses and create more billionaires, a process that will go on until the biosphere collapses under the growing tons of pollution and billions die and all species go extinct from the toxic environment.

At the moment for instant in the UK there are no organisations that are responsible for overseeing if companies are indeed incorporating green strategies into their operations. Enforcement all over the world will need to be established to ensure green solutions are being put in place effectively. Records and reporting to show green management at business level should be incorporated in annual accounting reports. We have heard lots of reports on what countries are striving to do but audits are manadatory to manage CO2 reduction in the long run.

I agree that China might become the leader in the green revolution and it will be good for one continent to take the initiative. Why I am pessimistic about China's objectives of green leadership is that the country still has to deal with the biggest population, highest number of people living in poverty and most importanly and I hate to say this, production of cheap quality products for exports. These days I cannot afford to go into a shop and not check the label. If it is made in China for me it is unstainable. While there is a link between green technologies and improving welfare this green war is not about who is better than the other (not cold war) it is about engaging all people at every level. Its effort on renewable energy are commendable. To be honest I am very optimistic about the green revolution changing lifestyles but I think its up to every single person on earth to do their bit for a balanced system.

I must give China credit for their serious effort to stop their population explosion, and their movemnet toward green technology. But it's a contradiction in terms to at the same time proclaim a commitment to "grow the economy". Wherever corporate economics prevails that is their mantra: "grow the economy" as though that would solve the World's problems, especially with low carbon emmissions maintained by alternate energy equipment like solar panels and and wind mills. So, now it's OK to go on growing the economy into the forseeable future? But any expansion of business investment for new factories, new mining areas, nuclear power plants, etc. require a growing population to do the work. That seems to be another fact the business promoters are reluctant to mention -- that a growing economy requires a growing population. They don't want to ask or answer this question: How many people can the Earth support? Suppose green technology is put into practice everywhere in every nation. Does that suddenly stop the Earth from slowly shrinking, but making it grow along with our growing human population? Obviously not. But the investors are so consumed by their instinctive impulse to grow and get rich, they just go ahead and they assume there are plenty of other planets in the solar system just waiting for their arrival, and the Earth will just go on supporting them forever. But it won't work.

Seven billion ambitious humans are already crowding out the remaining wilderness, so 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 billion will turn every forest into a tree farm, and eventually there wouldn't be enough of any resource to supply such an enormous number of people. Then, space travel would become a dire necessity to unload the huge masses of excess population as the Earth turned into a madhouse of overcrowding, which already drives people to violence.

This means that green technology is not enough, To live peacefully in balance on this slowly shrinking planet we must learn to plan our families accordingly and also recycle 100% of all our waste and garbage. Demographers and biologists and all the related sciences can calculate how many people the planet can safely support, now before the planet collapses under the collective impact of our growing billions.

This post was intended for both of you, but this website doesn't give me enough time to edit, so I apologise for that error and some awkward phraseology.