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People have proposed two scenerios for the growth of China. The first is that it continues to grow at a massive rate, consuming everything in its path, and producing an ecological catastrohphe that will be its demise, and possibly ours too. The second is that China wises up and becomes an unprecidented leader in “green growth” balancing its economic needs with good health for its people and a clean, healthy environment.
This article (WBCSD) gives great hope for the second scenerio. It seems China is studying the possibility of a new measurement for economic success – a “green” GDP if you will – which is not only a tally of economic progress, but also accounts for environmental impact and resource consumption as negatives against the total. It’s potentially a similar idea to the “Genuine Progress Indicator” proposed by the group Redefining Progress.
