China: Green by Decree?
China's economy is booming and so are its carbon dioxide emissions. The Chinese government decreed factories shutter their doors and forced more than a million drivers off the road -- all in an attempt to temporarily clean the air in Beijing for the Olympics.
Host Mike Tidwell asks if a similar policy could help green the entire country - Could China go green by decree? Claudette Juska of Greenpeace USA and Janet Larsen of Earth Policy discuss China's policies. Jos Olivier, the senior scientist for the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency discusses his recent research in measuring China's smog and CO2 emissions.
Finally we discuss environmental activism in China with Jamie Henn and Phil Aroneanu - coordinators of 350.org, an international grassroots climate campaign that's united by a common call to action to set 350 as the safe upper limit of carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere. View 350.org's recent video of climate activism in China.
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Image used courtesy of rytc via Flickr.