China, environmental leader

China was the home of the “one child” rule, which may have been the most important environmental policy of the 2nd half of the 20th century.  It brought a burgeoning population with attendant famines under control.  Although that policy has been abandoned, it is because China has become an industrialized country where large families are seen as a disadvantage, not a positive.  The rule is no longer needed.

Now China is emerging as an environmental leader in other areas.  China’s policy on discouraging ivory use, which I originally thought was not really serious, is having an effect.  The price of ivory, according to “Save the Elephants,” a legitimate wildlife organization, has dropped by half in the past three years, mainly because of dropping demand.

In alternative energy, China is rapidly moving past the U.S.  Trump has indicated he won’t try to meet the goals of the 2015 Paris Agreement, and he has scrapped the Obama administration’s policies on climate change.  Guess who has become the global leader in alternative energy use.  That’s right, China.  

Two or three years ago, I never thought I would see China as the environmental nation and the U.S. as the pariah.  That’s what two months of Trump has done.