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From Chickens to Wetlands: China tackles environmental concerns

Sara Wolcott | Sunday 24th May 2009

When the UK public pressures their ministers to, say, stop building coal plantations, it is quite common that ministers will say, it doesn't matter what we will do if China doesn't do it also. Despite the faulty logic (when it comes to saving our planet from a changing climate, waiting for another country to do the right thing in order for you to do the right thing is irresponsible), it does point to one of the Big Challenges in sustainable Development: China. The country's 'successful' growth has, as we all know, come at substantial environmental (and social) cost. And coal plants are sprouting in China like London's daffodils in March.

The high level of environmental destruction (and the related health concerns such as asthma) has not gone unnoticed by Chinese officials.
China's been steadily investing in solar and wind energy, and sales of energy-efficient motorbikes continue to increase. Consumer concern for the environment is also increasing.

Recently, Chinese scientists have found that chickens can tackle petrol. Chicken manure that is. Yup: chicken poop helps break down oil spilled on soil. In fact, a microbe in chicken droppings is the most effective microbe at removing oil.

Given that China is the 5th largest producer of oil in the world (and oil spills do happen) and that they also have a lot of chickens, this is promising for those farmers who can't afford the more expensive (and sometimes harmful) other chemical solutions for oil spills.

China is also making substantial efforts to conserve and restore wetlands.

But a recent editorial in 'Nature' pointed out that we can't always trust everything the government says when it comes to environmental progress. For example, some critics claim that the pre-Olympic reduction in pollution was achieved by moving pollution-monitors to cleaner areas. As the rest of the world pressures China to save it from the financial crisis, we hope that Chinese citizens will convince their government to put equal priority on addressing environmental needs.

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