Environmental problems of China

 It's amazing what a troubled Chinese mother can accomplish. Documentaries can change the world, but then they have to deal with the realities of today, and not about the times in the past when the West was the source and solution for everything. A film that has the right focus is Chai Jing's "Under the Dome". It has been widely accepted. Within 48 hours after it’s release online it had 200 million visitors. This means that one in three Chinese netizens saw it before censorship started to remove the film on March 6th. The film can still be seen on YouTube (which is blocked in China). Link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6X2uwlQGQM

 "Under the Dome" is a project of one woman, Chai Jing, a former investigative journalist with the state-television CCTV. It starts with her telling how her daughter developed a tumor even before she was born. The daughter survived the surgery but grows up in a bell jar. Each day begins with checking the smog report. The smog determines if the daughter may go out. Out: face mask. Inside: cover cracks and ledges with tape. She was filming an operation of a cancer woman with black lungs, even though she never smoked. Six year olds who have never seen blue sky. She makes up for with a widespread myth that you can make children immune to smog. "China burn 3-4 times more fuel than Europe ... China burns more coal than the rest of the world!"

 She travels to Los Angeles and London and show how they solved their smog problems. She reveals how smog comes from subsidized steel mills, oil monopolies that sabotage environmental regulations and a corrupt society. Beijing was once the capital of bicycles. It probably had the world's largest traffic system of bike paths, but these have nowadays been converted to parking places to benefit the automotive industry. The film is partly problematic (Chai Jing sees oil, natural gas and as the solution and ignores the problems caused by the one party state).

 But the main message arrives: "It's not that I'm not afraid to die. But I do not want to live like this" said Chai Jing in a quote that has become viral.

 The Problem for the world of today is not that the United States built it’s society on cheap oil, private cars and houses far from citycenters. It is that China’s urbanization right now follows that model. China has more than 100 cities with over one million inhabitants. It is far more than the total population of the USA. Shanghai has three times more inhabitants than New York and more environmental impact per person. To be over clear: The focus should be on the Chinese society and its urban planning. Chai Jing makes a call in the film to the people of China to turn things around and engage in environmental protection, and hundreds of millions have listened.

Link (Sorry it seems the English subtitles are sometimes removed - If so you can search on Youtube for Chai Jing "Under the Dome" and maybe you can find the film with English subtiteles - It is one hour and 43 minutes long = 103 minutes):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6X2uwlQGQM

 It seems as it works on firefox (English subtitles) better than on Chrome

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6X2uwlQGQM