The outlook on scientific development put forward by Chinese leaders emphasizes harmony between human beings and nature, which not only aims at sustaining the nation's development but also represents a commitment to the world community.
From the industrial revolution of the 18th century to 1950 the developed countries accounted for 95 percent of the world's total carbon dioxide emission and even in the half a century from 1950 they still managed to release 77 percent of that. This means the developed nations gained advanced technology and capabilities at the expense of the whole human kind.
Remembering how reluctant the US and some other rich countries, which are responsible for global warming more than most other nations are and capable of dealing with it, have been until recently to work on the problem, people cannot but compare this outrageous situation to a sinking cruise ship on which the passengers are fixated with occupying first-class suites instead of joining efforts to sail the vessel toward safety.
Environment-related conflicts are very likely to happen over water resources first. A global "water crisis" may break out in the near future as a result of increasing droughts and other natural disasters caused by global warming, growing industrial consumption of water and worsening water pollution. Cross-national rivers nurture about half of all countries on our planet and those on the upper and lower reaches of the international rivers will find themselves frequently at each other's throat over the precious resource, making "water wars" a very possible scenario in the 21st century.
It is not enough to rely solely on technological advancement to overcome environmental crises and a fundamental change to mankind's ways of production, pattern of consumption and even social institutions is required. Or there is no hope of addressing the global blasphemy of some people leading an extremely luxurious and wasteful life while many others starve to death.
Today the American high-consumption and high-waste lifestyle is spreading throughout the world. People in developing countries may ask: Why can't we consume the way the Americans do if "all men are created equal". But the real question is how long our planet can provide if all of us consume the way the Americans do. The world's population will grow from 6.6 billion today to 8.2 billion in 2030 and 9 billion in 2050. Some scientists are convinced even 10 more Earths are not enough to sustain the current American rate of consumption on a global scale.
As environmental issues grow more serious by the day, the ability to deal with environmental crises, or "environmental power", is becoming a key factor of increasing significance in comprehensive national strength, hard or soft.
