The Chinese government's efforts to promote sustainable development and nurture the country's ailing environment have received praise from an eminent US philosopher and environmentalist, according to state-run news agency Xinhua.

The famous American environmentalist, John Cobb, Jr., founder of the California-based Center for Process Studies, has lauded China's green development and environmental protection programs, saying that -- while they may be contradictory goals -- the Chinese people want the benefits of both a healthy natural environment and a strong and stable economy.

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"What is astonishing is the extent to which China is finding ways to continue growing that are not so costly to the environment," Cobb told Xinhua recently. "The problems are still enormous, and many of them are growing worse.  But the efforts made to curb the destruction are also enormous and there are even prospects for reversing the deterioration while continuing to grow."    

China spent around $34 billion on programs to protect the environment and prevent environmental catastrophes in 2014 alone, according to a report published by World Finance Magazine early last year.  While this may seem paltry for a country of 1.4 billion people, Beijing's policymakers have become increasingly aware that environmental degradation exacts a heavy toll on the country's economic growth.  Quoting a report issued by the Chinese Academy of Environmental Planning, World Finance Magazine says environmental degradation and pollution had cost China a staggering $9.3 trillion in lost productivity in 2014.

With more than forty years of environmental advocacy work behind him, the 91-year old Cobb is among the most respected and influential voices in the global effort to promote organic agriculture and green development.  He has followed China's development policies closely over the past ten years, and had earlier praised the Chinese government's emphasis on the development of an "ecological civilization" based on traditional Chinese thought rather than modern Western traditions. 

"Our universities still largely ignore such ideas," he said in an interview with Xinhua last October.  "In the United States, most of the people who work in agriculture today are just as alienated from the land as any urban dweller."

The environmentalist has visited a number of China's eco-villages and farms, and believes they can form a strong foundation for China's bid to balance the demands of economic growth against the need to ensure the health of the environment.

"I hope the world will begin to emphasize increasing the carbon absorption by plants and soil as much as reducing carbon emissions," Cobb said. "Whereas industrial farming continues to poison the land and lose soil, organic farms absorb carbon and build up the soil.  May Chinese farmers return to organic methods before it is too late."    

TagsChina sustainable development, Environmental Sustainability, organic farms, John Cobb Jr