China Environmental Law

We aren’t just a dry scholary rag focused solely on emissions and discharges. We can see the humor as well as the next guy in some of the things that go on in the environmental policy arena. Thus we are thrilled to share with you Chinese environmental humor (or at least an environmental cartoon) when it makes an appearance.

You may remember our story about the Heilongjiang Environmental Protection Bureau’s ill-considered refusal to provide journalists with a list of the entities in the province found in violation of China’s environmental laws, Blacklist Blacked Out by Black Dragon River Province. Well, here’s a cartoon about the incident:

黑龙江省环保厅对违法排污企业情况进行”保密”（资料图）

The factory is labelled “Illegally Polluting Enterprise,” and the man is saying “This is a state secret!” Not sidesplitting perhaps, but effective I think.

It reminds me in a way of an old New Yorker cartoon I can no longer lay my hands on.  With a factory in the distant background, three men–the plant manager and two EPA inspectors with clip boards–are at a riverside overlooking a pipe spewing black gunk into the river.  The plant manager says, “So that’s where it goes! We’ll I’d like to thank you fellas for bringing this to my attention.”