Asia Society | China Green

On Thinner Ice

It's a known fact that glaciers around the world are retreating at a faster rate than any time in human history. As mountaineer filmmaker David Breashears documents this dramatic change on Earth, we find a much disturbing dimension of glacial retreat, that they are melting into the air and thinning down by hundreds of feet in a few decades.

Energy Efficiency

China's economic boom over the past three decades have been impressive. But a deeper analysis shows different trends of energy consumption: an increasingly efficient growth between 1980-2000 and an ever more energy intensive trajectory since 2001. China indeed should, and actually is striving for a less carbon intensive growth.

Tibetan Plateau in Peril

Tibetans have lived off the grasslands of the Tibetan Plateau for millennia. As the plateau warms up, this environmentally harmonious way of life, however, is now under mounting pressure. Rapidly melting glaciers and thawing permafrost have disturbed watersheds for rivers, lakes and the pastoral ecosystems. And the consequences are continental and beyond.

FEATURED VIDEOS

Big Tree County

Big Tree County

Da Shu Xian, or Big Tree Country, in remote Sichuan Province is the site of a large sulfur mine, which produces ...

Disappearing Glaciers on the Tibetan Plateau 1

Disappearing Glaciers on the Tibetan Plateau 1

A quick visual tour of some of the world's highest glaciers on the Himalayan Mountain Range and other regions on the ...

Everest’s Vanishing Glaciers

Everest’s Vanishing Glaciers

In the fall of 2007 and again in 2008, David Breashears traveled to the Chinese face of Mount Everest, a mountain he ...

Climate Change: China’s Actions 2008

Climate Change: China’s Actions 2008

In 2008, China’s State Council Information Office published a white paper entitled “China’s Policies and Actions for Addressing Climate Change.” The ...

Guanzhou Modernized

Guanzhou Modernized

Guanzhou Modernized explores the development of Guanzhou Island, a pocket of untouched farmland in the center of Guangzhou, south China’s metropolis ...

The Lessons of the Loess Plateau

The Lessons of the Loess Plateau

In Northwest China’s Loess Plateau, an area roughly the size of France and the birthplace of Chinese civilization, agriculture and grazing ...

Energy Retrofitting: The Story of Sohota

Energy Retrofitting: The Story of Sohota

The Story of Sohota by Ariane Wu China’s economic boom has fueled a flurry of real estate construction, but the growth has also ...

Damming the Angry River

Damming the Angry River

A short film courtesy of Zhou Xiaoli and Brent Huffman. See German Camera Production for their contact info. With the rise of ...

China: Undermined

China: Undermined

The Price of Coal, by Wu Nan, published January 2, 2008 on ChinaDialogue Hao Hualin calls the place where he grew up, ...

Origins of Rivers: Omens of a Crisis

Origins of Rivers: Omens of a Crisis

As the source of most of the major river systems in Asia from China to Pakistan, including the Yellow, the Yangtze, ...

Four Great Rivers

Four Great Rivers

Southeastern Tibet’s vast “sea of forests” contains one-seventh of all the timber reserves in China. In 1997, China banned harvesting in ...