论全球视野与地方行动

ON THINKING GLOBALLY AND ACTING LOCALLY

最近坊间流传一则笑话：如果北京城所有人同时朝一个方向吹风，一定可以把雾霾吹散!另一个传播更广也更久远的笑话则调侃了中国庞大的人口数量：如果13亿中国人同时从椅子上跳下来，肯定会发生地震。

If all dwellers in Beijing blew to the same direction at once, would the haze be reduced？ Will the earth quake if 1.3 billion Chinese people jump from their chairs at the same time？ We can laugh these off as jokes, but they raise serious spatial and scalar questions. If everyone were to walk, bicycle, or use public transportation, or if heating costs in winter were reduced and natural ventilation replaced air-conditioning in the summer, one-third of global energy consumption could be saved. Moreover, if everyone treasures food, one-third of the cultivated land could be saved for improving the landscape. We could continue to imagine similar examples： if rainwater could be collected and used at the home or community level, if sewage could be converted into fertilizer, and if fertilizer could be more fully absorbed into soil instead of being drained into river, our land and our earth would be much more sustainable and beautiful!