Opinion / Li Xing
Better return to old wisdom
By Li Xing (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-06-21 07:16
A young woman told a television reporter that she couldn't understand why
her mother-in-law insisted on keeping a big pottery vat in the kitchen.
There is no need for it any more, when tap water flows into every home of
her drought-plagued village in Northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous
Region. She and other villagers do not have to trek miles for water as
they and their ancestors did before.
The elderly woman gave a shy smile. "Every drop of water is still
precious," she said.
Simple and straightforward, the elderly woman told the truth. Everyone of
us should heed it whether we live in urban centers or rural areas, in
water-rich river valleys in the south or in the drought-ridden north.
Unfortunately, many of us take clean tap water, a symbol of
modernization, for granted. We abusively use it as if its supply is
endless. It is not. Per capita share of water resources in China is only
one-fourth the world's average. Clean water is even scarcer, as its
sources are being contaminated.
But our abuse of scientific and technological advances, which make our
labor productive and our life convenient, comfortable and healthy, is not
limited to tap water.
Take pesticides and chemical fertilizers. We see on TV how farmers spread
these products without any warning that their excessive application could
harm their crops and themselves as well.
A friend of mine who works in New York complained to me last week that
she felt as if she were frozen in her office. The air conditioner kept
running despite the fact that the outdoor temperature was hovering around
20-some C.
I attended several meetings at the United Nations' headquarters in New
York a few years ago. I was aghast at how much paper the UN offices use,
even though most documents were available on the Internet.
We do make a point of trying to use both sides of the paper at work.
However, used paper gets stuck in printers so often that we are advised
to use new paper, for fear that the printers may break down.
We have always blamed big or small industries as culprits for shortages
of natural resources such as water and energy, environmental degradation
and global warming.
But now we should realize that there is much more we can do to save
natural resources, improve energy efficiency, reduce pollution and CO2
impact.
Office building managements worldwide should make it a rule to move the
air conditioning thermostat up at least to between 24 to 26 C, which is
still 2 C lower than what is mandatory in Japan.
The manufacturers of laser printers should improve their products so that
they can easily print paper on both sides.
We as individuals can also contribute. Quite a few of my friends have
already started to calculate their greenhouse gas responsibility. They
count the kilometers they travel in the airplane, or taxis they take
alone. And they think of ways to plant more trees. I've seen my
colleagues make their own notebooks using the paper only printed on one
side.
Some have replaced almost all incandescent light bulbs at home with
compact fluorescent bulbs (Cfl). A Cfl uses 60 percent less energy than a
regular bulb, thus reducing carbon dioxide emissions.
Meanwhile, we should also become more aware in evaluating new scientific
and technological gadgets to see if they are first of all green.
That elderly rural woman was right: Every drop of water - as well as
fossil fuel and electricity - is precious.
E-mail: lixing@chinadaily.com.cn
(China Daily 06/21/2007 page10)
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