The Greening of Asia: The Business Case for Solving Asia’s Environmental Emergency. By Mark Clifford. Columbia University Press; 306 pages; $29.95 and £19.95.
THE Asian economic miracle has lifted millions out of poverty, but at terrible cost. Deforestation and foul water are just two of the insults to nature resulting from breathless expansion. Air pollution in Beijing has been described by the American embassy as “crazy bad”. Asia is one of the biggest contributors to global warming.
Many blame economic growth, and the market forces and corporations that drive it, for this. So it is refreshing to see a clear-headed argument set out by Mark Clifford, a former editor-in-chief of the South China Morning Post, that markets and greenery can go together. Asian companies, he says, are ready to clean up.
Three conditions need to be met first. One is public engagement. In China a powerful independent documentary on pollution, “Under the Dome”, was viewed online by about 200m people before it was blocked by the authorities. From Korea to Kalimantan, the hyperactive use of social media...
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