China’s Uphill Battle for Food and Fuel
A report issued by the Chinese government, to be released in full this year, finds that China can expect global warming to intensify instances of extreme weather that will likely slash the country’s grain production.
This puts China at a difficult crossroad. It is the world’s second largest energy user, 80 percent of which comes from coal, and by 2010, the Chinese will probably be the world’s leading emitter of carbon dioxide.
Faced with mounting scientific evidence, President Hu Jintao recognizes that his country must work to save energy, but it also wants to maintain its economic development and feed its growing population.
This spells out bad news for the climate, since land previously used to make biofuel may convert back to grow grain for food. But don’t forget that China is also about to replace Japan as the second largest automobile market, meaning that without the biofuel advances, China is poised to add even more greenhouse gases.
China is sending and receiving mixed signals, thus wrestling with a handful of issues bound to dominate the political arena in the coming decades: climate change, energy, development, agricultural sustainability, et cetera.
However, these are not issues that can be dodged in any sense. The economy will eventually pay for its inaction, and so changes must parallel development. The more that coal-fired plants and vehicles are allowed to emit greenhouse gases and impact the climate, then the worse the climate will bide for grain production, for biofuel and food.
