Pollution in China is a global concern |
China's global greenhouse challenge
May 6, 2008
China's growing greenhouse gas emissions and the problems they present for the rest of the world will be tackled by an expert panel, including acclaimed China specialist Professor Orville Schell, at UNSW this Thursday, May 8.
China is the world's most populous nation and is producing an increasing share of the globe's industrial goods - leading to a huge greenhouse gas output which has possibly already exceeded that of the United States. This poses a problem not just for China but the entire planet.
Professor Schell, the Arthur Ross Director of the Centre on US-China Relations at the Asia Society, is the key speaker at the inaugural UNSW Global Leaders Lecture Series on the topic: China and the World - How Global Warming Changes the Equation.
Professor Schell, a former Dean of the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California, Berkeley, who has travelled extensively in Asia and written nine books on China, will be joined by a panel of UNSW experts in engineering, political economies and environmental studies to discuss the China challenge.
Among those on the panel will be Professor Stuart Wenham, the Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence in Advanced Silicon Photovoltaics and Photonics at UNSW. Professor Wenham has extensive experience of China's development and energy needs and said the country's greenhouse impact was an issue for all nations.
"In China, because they are trying to keep manufacturing costs low, using alternative energy is not a particularly attractive option. They are trying to develop rapidly and create more jobs," Professor Wenham said.
"And the reality is it's the rest of us around the world relying on China to produce our goods for us so we're effectively exporting our greenhouse emissions.
"I don't think there is a ready answer and that's why a discussion like this is useful - you need discussions like this to make people more aware of what the solutions are."
Also on the expert panel will be UNSW Dean of Engineering Professor Graham Davies, Head of the UNSW School of Languages and Linguistics Associate Professor Hans Hendrischke, Senior Lecturer with the UNSW Institute of Environmental Studies Dr Mark Diesendorf and Researcher with the UNSW Climate Change Research Centre Dr Donna Green.
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