Environmental Activism in China: A Perilous Endeavor

In Part III of the New York Times Choking on Growth series, Joseph Kahn documents the travails of Wu Lihong, a Chinese environmental activist, in his crusade against the pollution of Lake Tai, China’s third largest freshwater body and one of its “ecological treasures.” Having long been the source of wealth and natural beauty in the lower Yangtze River Delta, the lake has been under attack since the 1950s, most notably so since the 1980s as the region developed a burgeoning chemical industry. Deeply troubled by the deterioration of the lake, Mr. Wu began to collect water samples, snap photographs, and amass newspaper clippings, all to help him gather local support, shed light on the environmental threats to the lake, and put constant pressure on government officials to act. Of course, throughout his efforts as an activist, the “Environmental Warrior”, as Mr. Wu was referred to, endured threats, intimidation, and arrests from local police and party officials. As Kahn demonstrates, addressing environmental challenges in China is a political issue at its core, yet local officials get ahead by focusing on economic growth and social order and have little patience for environmentalists’ appeals to higher-ups in Beijing. To read the full article, click here. Also, follow this link to see some interesting audio and video features related to the article.