The Cat’s out of the Bag

Uncovering China’s Eco-Secrets

Plagued by boycott threats and protests that nearly derailed the journey of the Olympic torch to Beijing, the 2008 Games have brought Chinese human rights and the issue of Tibet to the attention of the whole world. Environmentally, China—home to 16 of the world’s 20 most polluted cities—has been under pressure to drastically improve Beijing’s air quality by the time the Games kick off Aug. 8. It’s not a pretty—let alone sustainable—picture. But that didn’t stop Erica Gehrke, SharedVISION’s associate editor, from visiting the Middle Kingdom to see if she could glean a few rays of hope from the clouds of chaos. She reports to us from Shanghai.

Everyone loves a good secret. So when my English–Mandarin translator asked if I wanted to know her grandmother’s secret to longevity, I was on the edge of my seat waiting for her reply.
We were dining at Jujubetree Vegetarian Lifestyle, a well-known Buddhist restaurant in Shanghai and one of few places in the world that serves up a guaranteed “no smoking, no flesh, no egg products” dining experience. Or at least that’s what we were enjoying before my translator revealed that her family’s secret to longevity was eating cat placenta.

Cat placenta? I felt my face rapidly turn the colour of my green tea. She went on to explain that in Grandma’s day, life in rural Shanghai was tough. You did what you had to do to stay warm, feed the family, and stay alive.

With a history rife with revolution, famine, and upheaval, the Chinese have learned to be resourceful. But it struck me that the old ways of conserving everything were disappearing in a cement-dust cloud of extraordinary urban redevelopment.

Noxious fumes bellowed out of vehicles and factories, taxis idled on the streets, and blue plumes of cigarette smoke stung my eyes. By the end of the week, I felt as though I’d smoked an entire pack of those no-filter Chinese cigarettes called—I’m not making this up—“Long Life,” just by breathing.

What’s more, each night thousands of flashing neon signs turned Shanghai into a fireworks explosion of greenhouse gas emissions. Meanwhile, the sides of skyscrapers were transformed into massive advertising platforms with screens five storeys high flogging the latest consumer trends and music videos.

Coming from Vancouver, where all things verdant are forever in vogue along with everything eco-this and enviro-that, I was thrown into full-blown eco-anxiety at the end of my first week in China’s biggest city.

Yet, once the cigarette smoke cleared—if only for a nanosecond—I noticed environmental awareness is indeed surfacing in Shanghai in small but identifiable ways.

At first glance, the only indication that anyone gave a rat’s you-know-what was the profusion of British designer Anya Hindmarch’s “I Am Not a Plastic Bag” canvas totes slung across the shoulders of local fashionistas. But in People’s Square, the epicentre of Shanghai, little old ladies chased down tourists to relieve them of their empty plastic water bottles for recycling. Elderly men greeted morning commuters, eager to get their newspapers for the same purpose.

In addition, it turns out the must-have accessory in Shanghai—Anya Hindmarch bags aside—is a bicycle of any sort: pedal, electric, or even a stand-up electric scooter. And while Vancouver has a few designated bike routes scantily laced throughout the city, Shanghai’s bicycle lanes are ubiquitous and crowded with two-wheelers morning and night.

Even more promising are new trends in China’s manufacturing industries. One evening out, I was introduced to fellow Canuck and eco-preneur extraordinaire Jonathan Burke, whose company, Bodhi Group Limited, manufactures reusable bags made from recycled yogurt cups and water bottles. Talking with Jonathan eased the pangs of eco-guilt I’d been swallowing every morning with my single-serving plastic cup of yogurt.

And a conversation over dim sum with Peggy Liu, a Silicon Valley venture capitalist and chairperson of the non-profit Joint US-China Cooperation on Clean Energy (JUCCCE), left me hopeful that China may have a sustainable future. JUCCCE plans to aggressively promote the use of clean energy across China and make the country significantly more energy-efficient—within 10 years.

So while we may know China as the world leader in air and water pollution, it could prove to be an eco-warrior’s dream. Just think of the whispers of environmental awareness here as cat placenta… for the planet.

Erica Gehrke is still searching for the secret to longevity. Unfortunately, all the cats she knows are spayed.

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