In the past four decades, China’s economic miracle has been shadowed by many environmental challenges with global implications. This talk will highlight long-term trends and consequences of China’s major environmental issues, such as air pollution, biodiversity loss, climate change, land degradation, and water pollution and shortages. It will illustrate their driving forces across a metacoupled planet with human-nature interactions within and among countries. The talk will also show achievements and ongoing efforts of environmental protection. It will end with suggestions for an environmental revolution to fundamentally improve the environment in China and beyond.   

Jianguo (Jack) Liu is the Rachel Carson Chair in Sustainability and University Distinguished Professor of the Center for Systems Integration and Sustainability at Michigan State University. He takes a holistic approach to addressing China’s environment and global sustainability through systems integration (e.g., integration of natural and social sciences as well as policies and advanced technologies). Liu is also a reviewing editor for Science, member of the American Philosophical Society, and fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences.

This lecture is hosted by Princeton's Center for Contemporary China and co-sponsored by the Program in East Asian Studies and the Princeton Environmental Institute.