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April 24, 2019

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Home » Opinion

Expo to showcase China’s eco progress

By Gao Shan and Tan Jingjing | 00:00 UTC+8 April 24, 2019 | Print Edition

The upcoming 2019 Beijing International Horticultural Exhibition offers valuable opportunities to showcase China’s ecological civilization progress and to explore ways to model human civilization on the patterns and processes of nature.

The expo reveals China’s willingness to share progress with the world, and pursue green development, said John B. Cobb Jr, a 94-year-old member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

“I believe the expo will offer great experience in ecological agriculture, gardening and horticulture for developing countries,” he said.

Cobb, a prominent author on the subject and the founding president of the Institute for Postmodern Development of China (IPDC), has been advocating green development and more efforts to avoid global ecological crises since the 1970s.

Current IPDC President Philip Clayton said, “This (expo) allows for people from around the world to see recent innovations in Chinese horticulture.

“It brings together the friendship of people who roll up their sleeves and get their hands dirty in the dirt, and share their techniques and excitement with each other,” he said. More than 110 countries and international organizations, as well as over 120 non-official exhibitors, have confirmed to participate in the 2019 Beijing expo, which is slated to kick off on April 29 at the foot of the Great Wall.

Brian G. Henning, chair and professor of the Department of Environmental Studies at the Gonzaga University, said events such as the Beijing expo can be valuable opportunities for the public to explore ways to model human civilization on the patterns and processes of nature.

“The beautiful complexity of plants and other organisms should be seen not as resources to be exploited but as models on which to base a thriving ecological civilization,” he said.

“For centuries the West has viewed nature with contempt, developing ever more aggressive ways to dominate nature, bending it to our will. This industrial mentality has brought us to this moment of ecological crisis.

“An ecological civilization recognizes that happiness is not well measured by the accumulation of material possessions but by meaningful human relationships within a flourishing natural world.

“China would be wise to look not to the West for answers, but perhaps to its own ancient wisdom such as Confucianism and Taoism for the basis of a genuinely ecological civilization,” he added.

The authors are Xinhua writers.

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