China: A Case Study of the Importance of the Three Realms of Sustainability

Economic, social and environmental: the three realms of sustainability. If you’re not too familiar with this concept then you must not have taken any of Dave’s courses. After ENVR 201 it’s hard to forget. The idea behind this concept is that sustainability cannot just develop in one realm. We, as environmental studies students, often only focus on environmental sustainability. What we cannot forget is that unsustainable development in any of these three categories can threaten the stability and sustainability of society. We only need to look to China to see this concept in action.

As Ben so eloquently put it in his earlier blog post (I’d recommend checking it out), China has seen explosive economic development in the past few decades, bringing hundreds of millions of people out of poverty, while all at the cost of her water, air and land. China threw everything they could into creating economic development and sustainability (in a sense, though economic inequality has never been more severe which by no means contributes to societal stability) yet neglected the strengthening their environmental or social sustainability (quite the opposite, actually). Well now, it seems, it has caught up with them.

This week Treehugger.com reported that pollution is the leading cause of social unrest in China. Incidences of social unrest have been far and few between in communist China for decades, but that’s slowly changing. Both western and technological influences seem to be fueling the beginnings of a movement, whereby Chinese citizens are standing up to the government for not only their own rights, but for environmental rights as well. Years of oppression are beginning to fade away as the government realizes it must adapt to a growing and powerful middle-class citizenry sick of decades of smog and environmental destruction.

Of course, it is no small task for China to clean up its act. For a country as big as China, whose primary energy source is coal and whose energy needs are growing at unprecedented rates, there is no simple way out. That said, change is happening. Forbes reported that China is closing more than 5000 coal mines this year as it moves towards natural gas. Officially, however, these closures were linked to safety concerns. China’s coal mining industry is responsible for more than 5000 deaths every year. Socially sustainable? I’d say no. At the same time China turns away from coal, the have become the world’s largest producer and consumer of solar panels and is set to overtake France (even at its best) in nuclear power capacity  (though Fukishima has slowed their progress).

It would seem China is realizing that all three realms of sustainability are necessary to create a functioning and sustainable society. They seem to be taking large steps in the right direction. Who knows if it will be enough. Their efforts, in my opinion, are admirable (though I still have a long list of social and environmental grievances against them) in that they are ambitious and significant. I actually believe the U.S. could learn from their actions; learn to take more significant and confident steps towards renewables or nuclear, for example. China, too, could learn a thing or two about human rights from the United States. Moral of the story, I guess: we all have a lot to learn.