china green 2.0 ::
Sunday, November 16th, 2008
:: environmental consciousness is still in its early stages in China. Concern for environmental issues is often tied to government campaigns or major issues in the news, but overall knowledge about the environment and conservation remains limited, as evidenced by the sheer number of questions about basic environmental vocabulary that get asked at well-known online Chinese Q&A sites.
A good deal of the enthusiasm for things green that was building in China over the summer seems to have evaporated now that the “green” Olympics are behind us, but activity is still going on at China’s green Web sites. Included below is a sampling of a few of those sites.
consumer issues
Chinese netizens are becoming increasingly active in small-scale consumer environmental protection. Much of their activity takes place on local BBSs, and even on QQ instant message groups, but special sites have been set up for some of the major issues. Perhaps the biggest environmental issue this year has been the replacement of disposable plastic shopping bags with multi-use cloth bags. Once the government restricted the use of free, thin plastic bags in June, online communities were launched to exchange information about re-usable bags. Green In China offers localized green bag information for Shanghai, Xiamen, and Beijing. Prior to bags, the big issue was disposable chopsticks. Anti-disposable chopstick sentiment has been building in China over the past few years, but many activists still think that more can be done on both an individual and policy level. The “Bring Your Own Chopsticks Alliance,” founded in May, 2008, is a Jilin-based organization set up to combat the waste generated by single-use disposable chopsticks in China.
general conservation web sites
Everyone Conserves, founded in 2006, is a site devoted to spreading information about what individuals can do to help the cause of the environment. It features basic conservation knowledge, information about high-waste habits, and downloadable toys and applets. The Chinese Environment and Ecological Network is a clearinghouse for news related to the environment and green issues. It offers a platform for environment-related blogs, a wiki for relevant information. Both sites link to China’s official website for administration of the UN’s sustainable development program, Agenda 21, which has a rad consumption calculator.
specialized topics
In addition to general knowledge and consumer-related issues, there are websites devoted to more specialized issues like carbon trading and wildlife conservation. The China Low Carbon Net is a Web site geared toward education and research into the carbon issue. It also includes general environmental news helpfully tagged by category. Shanshui Conservation Center is the Web site of a conservation organization that is active in western China. It’s intended to bring active projects to the awareness of Internet users and features Flash gadgets, interactive maps, and a BBS / discussion forum.
international exchange: China dialogue
Chinadialogue.net, headed by Isabel Hilton, is fully bilingual, with all articles and comments appearing on the site in both English and Chinese to facilitate international discussion of environmental issues in China. The site is a clearinghouse for environmental reporting and commentary from the Chinese media and from selected overseas sources. If you’re looking for even more green websites in China, China Dialogue has an extensive list of annotated links.
green software
To the Chinese Internet user, “green” has another meaning: plug the color into leading search engine Baidu and the results are dominated by sites offering “green software” for download. This software is free of the spyware and viruses that plague a lot of online archives; many of the programs follow an even stricter definition of “green”: no installation necessary. GreenDown and The Green Software Alliance are two major archives that include active BBSs where users can get answers to their questions.
// AjS
