U.S.-China cooperation on energy and climate change

Among the many topics Secretary of State Clinton hopes to discuss during her upcoming trip to China (the last leg of her current Asia tour) is U.S.-China cooperation on climate change. A rather timely topic given that China is now the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases, and has considerable clout in determining the likely direction of global attempts to deal with the issue.

That said, there arise many questions over what U.S-China cooperation in this respect might actually look like. What are the particulars? Luckily for all those who ponder such things, a scientific task force run jointly by the Asia Society's Center on U.S-China Relations and the Pew Center on Global Climate Change has worked to compile specific recommendations. The press release can be found here; an overview here; and the PDF of the report in English here. 

[HT: James Fallows]

Organic in China

Earlier this week I posted on a fantastic story in the WSJ's China Journal about organic pig farming in China (I know: it sounds ridiculous, but work with me on this one). While I may have chuckled slightly at the venture, it appears that it's actually part and parcel of a blossoming organic food industry that's taking off across the country. 

Jordan Calinoff in GlobalPost writes: 

Without much fanfare, China has in recent years revolutionized organic farming. Between 2000 and 2006, China jumped from 45th position to second worldwide in the amount of land under organic management. In 2006 alone, China added a staggering 12 percent to the world’s organically farmed land.

Who would have thought? If the trend continues, it may potentially lead to cheaper organic produce worldwide (hooray!), and may likewise have far-reaching social consequences inside China. Most obviously, it may be the first among many steps in the improvement of food safety (and goodness knows how badly that is needed), and may also go some way in alleviating the burden of unemployment faced by the country's migrant workers:

As millions of unemployed migrant factory workers stream back to the countryside in search of work, the increased revenue from organic food — it sells at twice the price of conventional produce — could help ease that labor transition.

The industry does, of course, have some hurdles to overcome (think: government regulation, authenticity of allegedly 'organic' produce, farming woes more generally), but appears to be the next 'it' thing among the country's younger generation. 

(On the topic of organic goodness, do you know who owns Trader Joe's? You really do learn something new everyday!)