We Are All Chinese
China is rapidly expanding its economic and environmental footprint on the planet. Chinese companies are exploring oil fields in Africa, drilling for gas in Burma, building dams in the Mekong region, and cutting down forests in Indonesia.
In a comment in the San Francisco Chronicle, International Rivers policy director Peter Bosshard argues that we play a part in China’s global expansion. Seventy percent of the timber which China imports is re-exported in goods for the world market. China’s overseas dams are powering mines, oil installations and factories which produce our computers, toys and t-shirts. We have outsourced much of our dirty work to China and other parts of the world. The comment is also avilable in Chinese, German, Spanish and French.
On February 13, 2008, Peter Bosshard discussed China’s global environmental footprint, and our role in it, at a public event at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco. Listen to a podcast of his presentation.
- Interview with Peter Bosshard in a podcast produced by the China Digital Times
- World Rivers Review issue of December 2007 about China’s global dam building boom
- Map with Chinese dams around the world
- Introduction to our China global program
