Agent 350

350 China, Part II: Not quite what we meant by green . . .

Jamie (Agent 350)

Aug 2, 2008 11:31 pm 1 Comment

It was a dream of mine growing up (okay, it's still a dream of mine), to be a photographer for National Geographic. So when Bill McKibben, the leader of our 350.org campaign, mentioned that he was going to be in China doing research for the magazine at the same time I was planning to be in the country, I was determined to tag along with him.

Besides vicariously living out my dreams of National Geographic stardom, I also wanted to travel with Bill so that we could work together to accomplish one of the goals of my trip. The first goal for our trip to China was always to connect with organizations, students, and others to partner with us on our  350.org project. Our second goal was to tell a story.

First, a little background.

In the politics of global warming, China is the number one scapegoat. The most common excuse we hear for inaction from politicians, businesses, and even our friends, is, “Why would I do anything when China is going to cause global warming anyway?” Ask your buddy why he drives instead of biking to work – the answer will probably have something to do with the Chinese. Ask a U.S. negotiator at the United Nations about why we won't sign an international global warming treaty: China.

It's essential that we find a way over the coming months to change this narrative. That will require work in China, but it will also take a lot of work here in the U.S. and in other countries. Just as the Chinese have to do their part to find a way to develop as efficiently and environmentally as possible, we'll have to do ours to resist the “Blame China”-syndrome that seems to be sweeping the general public.

That's not to say we should turn a blind eye on China's environmental challenges (or human rights abuses, for that matter). What it does mean is that we should try and offer up not only critiques, but solutions that we can work together on.

Thinking about how the U.S. can help fund clean energy development and sustainable business education in China is a good first step on the national level. On the individual level, we can each do our part to learn more about China's environmental successes and help spread those stories.

So, let's get back to the trip.

After leaving Beijing, Bill, Claire, and I traveled down the coast to a “small” seaside city of about three million people call Qingdao. In the past, Qingdao was famous for it's beaches, sailing (it's this years host of the Olympic sailing events), and most of all, it's beer, which still carries the city's original name, Tsing-tao. Most recently, Qingdao was famous for it's algae.

In case you missed the news, a few weeks ago Qingdao's harbor was the victim of an algae bloom so thick that it looked like the Olympic sailing events were going to have to be canceled because the boats couldn't cut through the mirk. It seemed like a typical story in China, an environmental problem causes untold damage and now, international embarrassment.

But – and here comes the success story part – just as the algae was looking unbeatable, an incredible thing happened. Tens of thousands of local residents, armed with nets, rakes, buckets, or whatever they could find, waded into the water to drag out the tons of algae by hand.

And I mean tons. When Bill, Claire, and I walked down the beach outside of our hotel, enormous piles of algae sat on the sand every few yards like damp, discarded clumps of green hair. Dump trucks full of algae made trip after trip from the beach to some unknown location where the stuff was presumably being dumped – a potential source of biofuel, I thought optimistically. Meanwhile, out in the harbor, a flotilla of hundreds of small ships and boats did their best to herd the algae towards the shore where the citizens of Qingdao (now armed with bulldozers as well as buckets) scooped it up into the trucks.

Although the work looked tiring and exceedingly damp, the people we saw fighting the algae looked ebullient. They were so inspired in fact, that they were literally marching in the streets. When our little trio came in from the airport, we witnessed a group of algae cleaners parading down the sidewalk waving flags emblazoned with the number of their algae cleaning brigade.

By the time we left Qingdao a few days later, it looked as if the tide was turning. Bill and Claire had taken the time to visit a city near Qingdao that had put up thousands of solar hot water heaters on the rooftops, but talking with them it was clear that the local algae struggle had been more inspiring.

Sure, if it wasn't for the Olympics, the algae may have been left to eventually sweep away with the currents. With the motivation of the games, however, Qingdao's citizens sprang into action and pulled off a miraculous environmental cleanup.

They demonstrated exactly the type of energy we're going to need to get us back to 350 ppm. Imagine brigades of solar panel installers marching down the streets waving flags. Thousands of citizens turning out to erect the city's first wind turbine. Groups of university students volunteering to retrofit apartments and homes for free. Qingdao may have had enough of the color green for now, but one can hope that the rest of China, and all of us, can take a little motivation from their incredible civic mobilization to clean up their environment.

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