Chinese people’s difficult awareness of climate change – rts.ch

In the Longjing region (Zhejiang province), tea is grown, a plant that is vulnerable to extreme heat. “The harvest was worse than other years. The fall is significant: this spring I picked 20% less tea,” said a farmer Mr. Zhao said.

>> Read More: Europe and the Northern Hemisphere are preparing for the peak of the heat wave episode

This low harvest is a direct result of last summer’s exceptional heat wave. In the Yangtze basin in eastern China, the mercury has repeatedly crossed the 40 degree threshold.

“Heat? It’s the worst. If it’s too hot, the plant dries up. There, we flirt with 40 degrees Celsius. The sun can burn the tea. Cover the plants and need more water … then prune the damaged leaves. But if it’s too hot, the plant won’t produce young shoots,” continues Mr. Jao.

“I don’t care”

Down in the village, Dai Zhongqing denounced the redundant work. From now on it is necessary to water the plants liberally in summer. If he admits to being tired, he’s not unduly worried about global warming in China: “I’m not worried. Well, not much. It shouldn’t change much. There’s plenty of water in the river. If it continues to be hot in the summer, we’ll change it. We’ll pump more water. That’s all.”

This detachment is shared by her neighbors. Sitting in her kitchen, cooled by a large air conditioner, Ms. Zhao is unmoved by references to global warming in China. “Simple and ordinary people, this matter is too big for us, too abstract. We don’t think about the problems beyond our control. As tea farmers, it affects our income a little. Economic laws are respected: rarity creates high price, small harvest creates high selling price. Finally, we are there.”

This indifference is shown time and time again. Many people are not aware of climate change. Many defer to the authorities.

Carbon neutral by 2060

What is Chinese power doing in the fight against climate change? On the one hand, there is voluntary talk with a promise to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060. But there is no real road map for this purpose.

Admittedly, Beijing is developing renewables at breakneck speed — hundreds of thousands of hectares of solar panels and wind farms have been deployed — but coal still accounts for nearly 60% of the country’s total energy production and many thermal power plants continue to run off the ground.

>> Read More: In China, American John Kerry calls climate change a “threat to humanity.”

Get public support

The government’s strategy is unclear and NGOs are growing impatient as time passes. Greenpeace China environmental policy expert Li Shuo calls for an awakening of conscience: “Addressing climate change is a complex challenge. It will require significant systematic efforts over a very long period of time…”

And to continue: “We need public participation and cooperation. But the population’s sensitivity to this problem is still lacking in China. With extreme events like the heat wave now hitting the country again, I wonder if we may not finally see the long-awaited public awareness.”

Li Shuo believes that without people’s “active involvement,” it will be impossible to achieve the authorities’ “ambitious goal” of becoming carbon neutral within thirty years.

Putting pressure on the Communist Party

In the absence of public demands, continuous media and militant activities or almost (Read Structured), the Chinese have little exposure to the climate issue. Yet they physically feel the global warming of their country. For now, the temperature is bearable. Not comparable to air pollution, a popular source of frustration in the 2010s.

The Chinese were suffocating under a cloud of toxic smog nicknamed the “Airpocalypse”. Dissatisfaction prompted the Communist Party to react. “He acted quickly when the problem began to focus all the public’s attention by creating discontent. The government’s response was so swift and ambitious that air pollution dropped at a speed that surprised everyone in the environmental world,” Li Shuo said.

And to add: “But now that pollution has been reduced to less exceptional rates and it is now unknown, the momentum that was started is losing momentum when we are halfway there. Relaxation awaits … The danger is that we must allow ourselves to distract from the environmental efforts that still need to be made.”

Michael Beuker/Wajo