Ma Jun
Ma Jun
Ma Jun, courtesy name Deheng, was a Chinese mechanical engineer and government official during the Three Kingdoms era of China. His most notable invention was that of the south-pointing chariot, a directional compass vehicle which actually had no magnetic function, but was operated by use of differential gears. It is because of this revolutionary devicethat Ma Jun is known as one of the most brilliant mechanical engineers and inventors of his day. The device was re-invented by many after Ma...
NationalityChinese
ProfessionEnvironmentalist
Date of Birth22 May 1968
CountryChina
In the future, officials will feel more pressure to protect the environment. But how to assess the officials' efforts to protect the environment is still a pivotal issue.
It has been shown that public participation can limit powerful interest groups, while competing interests can help find a reasonable balance between development and environmental protection.
In America, you complain about job losses because of China, but here, we carry all of the environmental costs.
iPhone4 is sold in the U.S., Europe and elsewhere, but it was assembled in China. As the world's center for the processing of IT products, China's environment is paying the price.
Of course, as consumers, we want cheap and good products; however, if these production processes are exceeding wastewater discharge standards and even causing heavy metal pollution, they will cause long-lasting damage to the ecological environment and public health.
If major companies sourcing in developing countries care only about price and quality, local suppliers will be lured to cut corners on environmental standards to win contracts.
I think its time to change and balance the environment and growth. If we don't do that, we're going to suffer a hard landing one day very soon.
Even the government understands that the environmental challenge is so big that no single agency can handle it. It needs collaboration among all the stakeholders - companies, governments, NGOs and the public. Public accountability will be the ultimate driving force.
Environmental groups are not completely against dams. We approve of appropriate development.
The motivation should come from regulatory enforcement, but enforcement is weak, and environmental litigation is near to impossible. So there's an urgent need for extensive public participation to generate another kind of motivation.
Brands who come to China, often they just care about price - so they actually drive the suppliers to cut corners on environmental standards to win a contract.
Environmental agencies in China are hamstrung by local officials who put economic growth ahead of environmental protection; even the courts are beholden to local officials, and they are not open to environmental litigation.
Like in those cancer villages, a group of old ladies kneeling down in front of me, you know, holding a bottle of polluted water and hoping that they would get help, this is the voice that got drowned in this complex, globalized supply chain system.
If you publish something in traditional media, it's one-way. With social media, we get all this info coming back from those who read our posts.