China Environmental Law

There’s a great story about Zhao Zhong, a grassroots environmentalist in Gansu Province, in the English language version of the Economic Observer magazine.  This article provides a less fawning description of Mr. Zhao and his Green Camel Bell group than has appeared in some Western media. Nevertheless, although his organization appears to lack focus (it is engaged, when it has the staff, in activities that range from “investigating the southern banks of the Yellow River” to encouraging “a sunflower-planting program” among local farmers) and has suffered its share of hardships (including the accidental death of a volunteer), one is left with the impression that Mr. Zhao is doing good work and has his heart in it. You can read more about Zhao and Green Camel Bell in this article by Christina Larson which appeared in the Washington Monthly (or here for a .pdf of the print version). Mr. Zhao and Green Camel are also featured in this month’s National Geographic article on the Yellow River (h/t The New Republic’s Environment and Energy blog).

It is interesting to contrast the Larson article’s description of the “two room apartment on the rundown western side of” Lanzhou which is the headquarters of Green Camel Bell, with the headquarters of a more celebrated Chinese “NGO” which has “floor-to-ceiling office window[s] look[ing] out over” the Beijing skyline. The latter organization has a penchant for fingering US companies for environmental infractions when they are the least of China’s environmental problems (I will address this point in more detail in a subsequent post). I suppose these companies make soft targets, but I prefer the pluck of those keeping tabs on the hard targets like the Lanzhou Petrochemical Company. Best of luck Zhao Zhong!