About The Author. Photograph by Emma Watts. Jonathan S. Product Details. Raves and Reviews. Resources and Downloads. Get a FREE ebook by joining our mailing list today! By clicking 'Sign me up' I acknowledge that I have read and agree to the privacy policy and terms of use.
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More filters. Sort order. Watts' evocative title is taken from his childhood prayer begging god to prevent the Earth being shaken from its axis by the force of the world's largest population landing in concert.
His book offers no prospect of avoiding an equivalent catastrophe for the biosphere; 'China has jumped' he states, and we must all rebalance our lives. Region by region, he examines the activities pushing China's ecosystems beyond their limits. The global consequences are stark. The rich, minority world has exporte Watts' evocative title is taken from his childhood prayer begging god to prevent the Earth being shaken from its axis by the force of the world's largest population landing in concert.
The rich, minority world has exported dirty industries and actual waste to China, where an ever bigger mess has to be swept under an ever shrinking rug. Western governments have claimed carbon savings without counting the exported emissions. Watts' interviews with Chinese people in all sorts of social positions reveal a prevailing preoccupation with economic growth and increasing affluence. Often despite serious impacts on their lifestyles, environmental concern is worryingly far from most interviewees' minds.
Mao's Great Leap Forward, which instituted reckless hydro-engineering and foolhardy agricultural experiments, and caused a population explosion, is blamed for much of the 'develop now, clean up later' attitude, but Watts is quick to point out that Euro-American economies industrialised with as little thought for wider impacts, if not less. Filthy coal power emissions and desertification are major problems, which impact strongly on what I find the most disturbing problem; increasing pressure on water resources.
China's waterways are under stress and in many cases too polluted to use. Himalayan glaciers, which provide a steady supply for the lands below, are being steadily depleted. Talk of redirecting waterways from India to irrigate Northern China hint at major conflicts in the future.
Both countries have areas of severe shortage. Watts points out that China is buying land in Africa to feed its citizens. Dark shadows of carbon wars hang in the future Watts searches hard for the seeds of hope, investigating China's much-vaunted green investments and conservation programs, finding many serious flaws. Throughout the book, he contrasts Confucianism, which focuses on human society, with Daoism, which focuses on harmony with nature.
His conclusion draws on these roots: science must help, but it cannot be the solution. In China the limits to growth are being hit now. The global economy will have to restructure. In order for this to happen, Watts claims, there must be a shift from humanist Confucian to holistic Daoist values: a lesson from ancient and modern Chinese culture for people everywhere.
View 2 comments. I don't know if I've read a book more well researched. Thorough and thoughtful, I found many of the chapters to provide a lot of good insight into China and some of its environmental problems.
I appreciated that Watts never vilified China or its people for its problems, never made China out to be the only problem in the world, nor made them the scapegoat for what is obviously the entire planet's problem.
If I have a complaint about the book, it's just that parts can be rather depressing. However I don't know if I've read a book more well researched. However, that's not something the author has any control over. It's a bummer of a topic. Jan 28, Kevin McAllister rated it it was amazing. I decided to read this book because of it's interesting and catchy title. But unfortunately, it turned out to be one of the scariest and depressing books I've ever read. We all know about the booming Chinese economy, but using very convincing statistics, as well as personal histories Jonathan Watts demonstrates how this rapid economic boom is coming at a huge cost to the environment.
He talks of the attempts China is making to "go green" but with a population of 1. Here Jonathan Watts offers a detailed summary by region of the effects China's large population, rapid development, and pollutant-intensive industries of which North America and Europe have for the most part washed their hands are having on the world's environment--particularly as far as species extinction, water scarcity, desertification, and global warming.
He concludes that until grassroots movements reach a tipping point, progress is unlikely, since national policies often conflict with t Here Jonathan Watts offers a detailed summary by region of the effects China's large population, rapid development, and pollutant-intensive industries of which North America and Europe have for the most part washed their hands are having on the world's environment--particularly as far as species extinction, water scarcity, desertification, and global warming.
He concludes that until grassroots movements reach a tipping point, progress is unlikely, since national policies often conflict with the environment losing or fail to be consistently enforced. Interested in what's changed for better or worse in the five years since this was published.
May 20, Cat rated it really liked it. This book is both dense and long, but a rewarding read. It's a well-researched and exhaustive journalistic view of environmentalism in China, traveling across the major provinces of China.
Watts highlights the contradictions between quality of life and sustainability, conservation and capitalism, and short term vs long term growth while maintaining respect and empathy for the country and its people.
This book opened my eyes to the extreme conditions in various parts of China like fishing using e This book is both dense and long, but a rewarding read. While the content and state of the environment seem bleak, Watts tries to inject hope by highlighting ongoing efforts to improve the situation.
He emphasizes how China could shift our current trajectory and focuses on what we can learn from China - since China has reached its environment limits sooner than most, it is an example of what could be to come and what we might do to avoid environmental disaster. In the twentieth, the US taught us how to consume. If China is to lead the world in the 21st century, it must teach us how to sustain. Nov 20, Rebecca rated it really liked it.
There are hundreds of books about China in my office at the university. Some are fiction, most are nonfiction. With such a large selection, it has been difficult to choose what to read. In the beginning I stuck with travel memoirs, my genre of choice when traveling. However, the longer I stayed in China, the more I became interested in specific aspects of the culture and history — mostly having to do with the environment and the treatment of women. I have been wanting to write some reviews about There are hundreds of books about China in my office at the university.
I have been wanting to write some reviews about these books for awhile in case any of you are interested in learning more about China, its issues, and its people. This book is dense and will take awhile to get through, but it is also fascinating. Watts had been working as an environmental reporter in Beijing for several years when he decided to explore different parts of China to see what was really going on in terms of environmental degradation. What he found is shocking — at least for those who have never been to China.
Watts not only talks about the toll on the land, water, and animals, but he also talks about the human toll. He talks about the get-rich-quick schemes that exist throughout China that allow a handful of people to become rich, while thousands of others end up in cancer villages or, even more shameful because it is so preventable, AIDS villages. He also describes the cash grabs and the obsession with status symbols that are far too common in China today.
You will also read about what happens to our plastic bottles and our leftover electronics, not to mention where they come from. After having lived in China for a short time, I was not surprised to read about the corruption and the laissez-faire attitude of the Chinese government.
The obsession with GDP and the lack of regard for their citizens is appalling at best. The thing to remember though, and Watts makes this clear throughout the book, is that what is happening in China today does not only effect China. It effects the entire world. If you are concerned about the environment and the future of our planet, I would highly recommend this book. Note: I have read several reviews about this book on Amazon and many people have written that the author has too much of a doomsday approach and exaggerates the severity of the issue.
I have lived in China for only 1. Watts is very even-handed in his approach to writing about the issues facing China today, and I especially appreciate that he does not let the West off scot-free. He makes sure to point out how the West has a huge hand in what is happening in China and other developing countries today because we have cleaned up our own countries only by exporting our pollution to where our citizens will not see it.
Oh, boy - I almost didn't finish this book. Not because it wasn't a good book, but rather because I was feeling so despaired! The author took you on journeys around different regions in China and highlighted problems that each region was facing, mostly environmental. The issues included deforestation, drought, pollutions, and agricultural. The book flowed really well from one chapter to another, though it was hard to find many positive things.
One thing that really stuck out in my mind was when Oh, boy - I almost didn't finish this book. One thing that really stuck out in my mind was when he covered the topic of water pollutions. Watts wrote that the water quality was so poor that nasty scum would form on top of boiled water, and the people would just skim the scum off and drank the smelly water. I think the issue is rather complex. It's hard to tell a developing country not to develop. When you're on the other side e.
In the land of plenty e. China has face multiple famines; experiencing it once is already one too many. Priorities are quite different between societies. But as China becoming more developed and educated, people are paying more attention to sustainability.
This is a good thing. The hope is that, as China continues to grow, it will also consider sustainability as a part of its economic development plan.
When China sets its mind to something it just pushes forward. That's one thing about being a one-party nation! It will certainly be interesting which direction China choose to take, for whichever direction it is it certainly will impact the rest of the world. I didn't like this book at all, it just make me mad most of the time.
It was full of scientific misinterpretations that lead to mischieving conclusions about environment in China. I think what made me most mad was that, by the way it was written, it seemed like China was destroying the planet all by themselves by rising their living standards. But who is a European to critisize that, when we are the ones that actually set the living standard, to say that we can live like that but they cannot?
Plu I didn't like this book at all, it just make me mad most of the time. Plus the fact that a graet part of the contamination produced in China is caused by our consumism in the "rich" part of the world.
I actually find admirable that they are already starting to raise an ecological and green perspective into it, when it took us more than a hundred years from our industrial revolution to the recognition that maybe wild development is not the best idea and I am not sure we came completely into that realization yet.
As a Chinese friend said to me once: Why do we keep trying to impose a system that does not work on them? And she has a point. View 1 comment. Aug 29, Dy-an rated it really liked it Shelves: around-the-world. The section on Chinese workers sorting through the Western's world recycling stood out the most. It was depressing to find out that recycling materials make their way to China and that it is a horribly dangerous job sorting through these items. Is there any win to this situation?
If you have a chance, read it and you'll never want to see a designer handbag again. Overall, the book really made me wonder what the actual The section on Chinese workers sorting through the Western's world recycling stood out the most. Overall, the book really made me wonder what the actual cost of products would be without government subsidies and if the cost of natural resources like water use was added into the cost.
Nov 17, Bruno de Maremma rated it really liked it Shelves: economics-capitalism , nature , science-environment , current-issues , environment , social-history. A very disturbing and ultimately a very depressing review of the environmental mayhem underway as China industrializes at a frenzied pace.
Like christian thought in the west, the Confucian mindset in China has people believing that man is the natural master of nature. The results of this mindset are catastrophic. A good part of this virulent industrialisation is of coursed fueled by the need to feed the demands of western consumers.
Read it and weep. Mental read. Watts goes to places we're never going to go. Really, really opened my eyes reading this book. Unreal stuff. And it gets exciting too as he goes to places he's really not supposed to be. He's currently the Latin America correspondent for The Guardian now. Dec 21, Saima Absar rated it liked it. Could be highly recommended for those who are working in China or working with the Chinese.
I borrowed this one for my husband actually. Lots of interesting information on history, geography and tourism. I didn't get to the part about industrialization or pollution. A good choice for a personal collection but didn't hold my interest long enough to read page by page. Just not my cup of tea. Feb 20, Nick Woodall rated it really liked it Shelves: nonfiction , china , environment , history , society , worldview. He is on the ground in China for his investigative style writing and he knows how to describe and explain his topic very well.
If you are a sinophile, you will enjoy this book. A fascinating insight into the variety of environmental problems facing China. The fact that it barely scratches the surface of these problems is a terrifying prospect. An extremely well written an educational book that I would highly recommend. Still relevant after 9 years, although outdated of course. Jan 14, Dan Schiff rated it really liked it.
Watts is an incredibly dogged reporter, putting himself in some politically risky situations and traveling to some of the most desolate places in northern and western China to paint a portrait of the country.
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