Environment, Rather Than Corruption, Now Biggest Concern Among Chinese Citizens - Forbes

[hatrack]

For the residents of Beijing, the week of Feb.17 is one to remember. Air pollution, which hit a dangerous particulate concentration of more than 400, stuck at such unhealthy levels for almost seven days. The choking smog has its consequences. Environmental governance now has surpassed corruption to be the greatest concern of the Chinese public, according to a survey by a unit of the state-run China Youth Daily.

People discuss the environment three times more often than they complain about corruption, according to the unit that monitors the Internet for Beijing. It has counted the frequency of buzzwords from March 2013 to February 2014, roughly a month before this year’s congress meetings. The survey says that the discussion is focused on PM 2.5, the airborne particles known to lodge deep inside lungs. The World Health Organization warns against daily exposure to such particles above 25.

According to the unit’s official Weibo account, about 30 percent of China’s netizens blame the government for the worsening air pollution. The Chinese leadership has vowed to clean up the country’s filthy air, which president Xi Jinping called Beijing’s biggest challenge about two days after taking an unexpected stroll at the city’s historic alleyways, the hutong Nanluoguxiang.

But China is struggling to bring back blue skies, an undertaking that could cost as much as 1.75 trillion yuan ($284 billion) between 2013 and 2017. Local governments do not always follow Beijing’s orders. According to the state-run Economic Information, the Ministry of Environmental Protection found after a February inspection that a lot of companies are still polluting heavily despite Beijing’s repeated efforts to shut them down. “ This is just the tip of an iceberg. Pollution control, is, after all, a battle between Beijing and local governments.” The publication quoted an anonymous source.

EDIT

http://www.forbes.com/sites/ywang/2014/02/28/environment-not-corruption-is-chinas-biggest-concern/

[kristopher]

1. It's perverse, but I see this a positive for action on eliminating carbon

So does this fellow.

One Percenter Grantham: Wind, solar to replace fossil fuels within decades

“I have felt for some time that new investments today in coal and tar sands are highly likely to become stranded assets, and everything I have seen, in the last year particularly, increases my confidence,” Grantham writes.

“China especially is escalating rapidly in its drive to limit future pollution from coal and gasoline and diesel powered vehicles...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/112763985

For those that might not know

stranded asset
Stranded asset is a financial term that describes an asset that has become obsolete or non-performing, but must be recorded on the balance sheet as a loss of profit. The term has particular relevance to pricing long-term economic and environmental sustainability.

https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=define+stranded+asset&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

I mean, it is a good thing if the money for investing runs away from carbon, isn't it?
http://www.carbontracker.org/stranded-assets