488
H. Zhou
imposed by natural resources and ecological laws. The development of productivity
empowered man to conquer nature on an unprecedented scale, which resulted in
tremendous wealth as well as serious environmental crisis. The “eight environmental
hazards” in the twentieth century, including the smog disaster in Belgium’s Meuse
Valley, Donora’s “killer smog” in the US, London’s smog, photochemical smog in
Los Angeles, minamata disease in Japan, and rice bran oil event in Toyama and
Yokkaichi, threatened public health and prompted the people to deeply reflect on the
traditional economic growth pattern.
In 1962, American writer Rachel Carson published a book titled Silent Spring,
which sounded the alarm of environmental crisis in industrial society by elaborating
on how the massive use of pesticide harmed human race with appalling real cases.
In the 1970s, two global energy crises further set off the conflict between economic
growth and environment. In 1972, the report The Limits to Growth published by
the Club of Rome warned the world for the first time that “If the present growth
trends in world population, industrialization, pollution, food production, and resource
depletion continue unchanged, the limits to growth on this planet will be reached
sometime within the next one hundred years,” which drew close attention from all
countries. Also that year, the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment
was convened, at which a Declaration was released that put out the slogan of “only
one earth,” calling on mankind to bear the responsibility and obligation of natural
preservation while developing and utilizing it.
In 1987, the then Norwegian prime minister Gro Harlem Brundtland systematically expounded the connotations of sustainable development in the Our Common
Future report. In 1992, the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil adopted the Rio Declaration on Environment and
Development and Agenda 21, urging countries to, while boosting economic growth,
not just focus on the quantity and speed of development, but also on quality and
sustainability.
We cannot simply take ecological civilization as a brand new form of civilization.
The concepts it involves carry the ideological quintessence since agricultural civilization. “Harmonious co-existence between man and nature” is a continuation of
“unification of nature and man” proposed by ancient Chinese sages, and respecting
nature is a theory proposed by Engels in his Dialectics of Nature. China’s ecological
progress will employ modern technologies and the latest achievements of big data
and mobile Internet, take the path of sustainable development, and take the country
to the new era of ecological civilization.
3 Relation Between Ecological Progress and Social
Development
Ecological progress is an important means to improving people’s lives. As General
Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out, the environment is livelihood. Ecological progress
H. Zhou
imposed by natural resources and ecological laws. The development of productivity
empowered man to conquer nature on an unprecedented scale, which resulted in
tremendous wealth as well as serious environmental crisis. The “eight environmental
hazards” in the twentieth century, including the smog disaster in Belgium’s Meuse
Valley, Donora’s “killer smog” in the US, London’s smog, photochemical smog in
Los Angeles, minamata disease in Japan, and rice bran oil event in Toyama and
Yokkaichi, threatened public health and prompted the people to deeply reflect on the
traditional economic growth pattern.
In 1962, American writer Rachel Carson published a book titled Silent Spring,
which sounded the alarm of environmental crisis in industrial society by elaborating
on how the massive use of pesticide harmed human race with appalling real cases.
In the 1970s, two global energy crises further set off the conflict between economic
growth and environment. In 1972, the report The Limits to Growth published by
the Club of Rome warned the world for the first time that “If the present growth
trends in world population, industrialization, pollution, food production, and resource
depletion continue unchanged, the limits to growth on this planet will be reached
sometime within the next one hundred years,” which drew close attention from all
countries. Also that year, the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment
was convened, at which a Declaration was released that put out the slogan of “only
one earth,” calling on mankind to bear the responsibility and obligation of natural
preservation while developing and utilizing it.
In 1987, the then Norwegian prime minister Gro Harlem Brundtland systematically expounded the connotations of sustainable development in the Our Common
Future report. In 1992, the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil adopted the Rio Declaration on Environment and
Development and Agenda 21, urging countries to, while boosting economic growth,
not just focus on the quantity and speed of development, but also on quality and
sustainability.
We cannot simply take ecological civilization as a brand new form of civilization.
The concepts it involves carry the ideological quintessence since agricultural civilization. “Harmonious co-existence between man and nature” is a continuation of
“unification of nature and man” proposed by ancient Chinese sages, and respecting
nature is a theory proposed by Engels in his Dialectics of Nature. China’s ecological
progress will employ modern technologies and the latest achievements of big data
and mobile Internet, take the path of sustainable development, and take the country
to the new era of ecological civilization.
3 Relation Between Ecological Progress and Social
Development
Ecological progress is an important means to improving people’s lives. As General
Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out, the environment is livelihood. Ecological progress