Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Bags” 2008; “China Bans Free Plastic Shopping Bags” 2008). The latter
effort though may be mere posturing with limited enforcement. Yet,
while China increases its protection over its local environment, it has
demonstrated limited will to protect the global environment or to con-
tribute to international environmental governance mechanisms (Chan,
Lee, and Chan 2008). Indeed, China's limited understanding of environ-
mental injustice and ecological burden may generate even more substan-
dard practices if permitted by draconian political leaders elsewhere.
Deciphering China's Ethical Capital
Deciphering China's ethical capital is as murky as understanding its
domestic practices with regard to labor and environmental issues. Enderle's
(2000) work on China's Confucian and socialist ethics and international
infl uences following China's “Open Door” policy in 1978 provides
insight into the pressures between its technocrats, on the one hand, and
its socialist leaders on the other. To Enderle (2000), Confucian values
emphasize a government responsive to its citizens, wise use of natural
resources, and the pursuit of knowledge, which could include Western
technology and environmental values, while international infl uences
could include the recognition of and respect for human dignity and
human rights.
China's efforts to learn from Western, or Northern, technological
advances are clear. Beijing invests in research and development, educates
its scientists, engineers and managers overseas, opens its doors to inter-
national consultants, requires foreign investors to transfer research and
technological knowledge in exchange for market access, and creates joint
ventures with the world's largest oil companies, including BP, Royal
Dutch/Shell, and Exxon Mobil, to produce internationally competitive
petroleum companies (Altenburg, Schmitz, and Stamm 2008; Zhang
2004). The social and ecological disasters associated with each one— the
BP explosion and spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010, Shell's operations
in Nigeria, and the
Exxon Valdez
oil spill in Alaska in 1989— say much
about the inherent risks in the supply chain and the inadequate safe-
guards of these operators. In addition, and in the absence of urgent profi t
pressures, China's technocrats could actually invest in and even develop
advanced and least damaging technology, including the production of
hybrid and fuel-effi cient cars (Altenburg, Schmitz, and Stamm 2008). In
truth, Chinese leadership appears attentive to demonstrating their glob-
ally competitive skills and capacities, in
some
places (Andrews-Speed and
Vinogradov 2000).
