China's Desertification Problem – China Environment

A global lights out show that wastes more energy. Days ago text messages were sent to my inbox to tip me that there would be a global action called Earth Hour which calls on the Earth people to turn off their lights, computers and TVs and other human inventions comsuming electricity, and I was convinced.

Barack Obama and Chinese premier Wen Jiabao have made some progress in reaching a climate change deal, White House officials said shortly after the U.S. president used a speech to emphasize that a deal hung “in the balance.”

Ten years ago, when I lived in Beijing, air-conditioning was a rare luxury. On a visit there this month, I saw air-conditioners blasting even in rural restaurants. If hundreds of millions people in China and India expect to be cooled to our frigid standard of 71.6 degrees all the time, the environmental impact might be far less comfortable.

Despite some progress in recent years, Chinese officials say that the nation still faces a “very grave” environmental situation, from industrial pollution that has triggered protests in numerous regions to a troubling decline in biodiversity.