Angel Hsu: How China is (and isn't) fighting pollution and climate change
Angel Hsu is a professor and data geek who applies data-driven methods to solve challenging environmental issues. Full bio
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sent me this photo from Ürümqi,
province in northwest China.
she couldn't believe her eyes.
using this app on her iPad,
the air quality was good,
she saw something much different.
in the background.
not telling the truth
failing to measure PM2.5,
went off the charts in 2012,
once described it in a tweet,
that they were seeing this disconnect
and breathing for themselves.
of sorts in China,
to tackle its pollution problems.
to become a global environmental leader.
that I'll paint for you today
that are very promising,
that are more troubling
to the story at hand.
of China's green evolution
conducting fieldwork in China in 2011.
seeking answers to the question
from the skeptical outsider:
something on the environment?
was considered too politically sensitive
was keeping it secret,
of its harmful human health effects,
greater transparency
growing evolution and awareness myself
started to market these air purifiers
as the title of musical festivals.
in Shenzhen, which is in southern China,
they're advertising a retreat from PM2.5.
breathe sub-par air.
Environmental Protection Bureau
named after the air quality index
the air quality data to its people.
depending on the quality of air outside.
the mostly smiling face
called "Under the Dome."
to Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring."
that pesticides were harming human health,
into the popular consciousness
to one million premature deaths
views in a single weekend
some type of social unrest,
about how it could tackle
environmental problems:
electricity comes from coal.
than any other country in the world,
that China's government
to wage a war on coal,
of coal-fired power plants.
enormous investments
and renewable energy,
of this transformation
to show you what I mean.
when it comes to hydropower,
from hydropower alone.
of the Three Gorges Dam,
power station in the world,
leader by far.
China's also leading.
of solar power.
already revised upwards
a whopping 35 gigawatts of solar power.
of what the US has combined in total
in just seven months alone.
in solar power from space,
has done in this slide.
Germany's entire electricity consumption
largest carbon footprint.
we can see that China's coal consumption
as early as 2013.
why China's government announced
their 2020 carbon reduction pledge
improvements in air quality
by as much as 30 percent.
is actually leading people
than they would have in 2013.
the cities that have experienced
at the beginning of this talk,
the data are still being determined.
of pretty steady global carbon emissions,
may be on the rise again
in China's fossil fuel consumptions,
that peak that I showed earlier.
and the data are still murky
its coal statistics after the fact.
having a debate on Twitter
whether China's carbon emissions
they're staying relatively stable.
a rapidly developing country.
with a range of policies,
sustainable transport solution.
of this bicycle graveyard
coal is still king in China,
what China is doing on the environment?
on the environment
for the rest of us.
as far away as those in North America.
infrastructure, technology abroad.
the One Belt, One Road Initiative,
infrastructure investment project
these infrastructure investments abroad,
a Chinese civil society group,
than 240 coal-fired power plants
One Road Initiative.
own domestic coal-fired capacity
China is cleaning up at home,
simply don't have a passport.
to evaluate this question
is actually leading,
very much an open debate.
and the outlook is not good.
between current policies
to avoid dangerous climate change.
from the US, for example.
announced its intent
the Paris Climate Agreement,
to fill that leadership void.
environmental future.
is not just good for the environment,
by reducing air pollution.
for 30 percent of the global growth
foggy air quality statistics
of China's clean energy.
is headed in the right direction,
a very long road ahead.
Is seeing believing?
air quality is coming down
is actually having an effect?
at some of the latest satellite images
very closely at this image.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Angel Hsu - Environmental data scientistAngel Hsu is a professor and data geek who applies data-driven methods to solve challenging environmental issues.
Why you should listen
Angel Hsu is a professor, researcher, writer and speaker who spends much of her time analyzing large datasets to develop policy solutions to the world's most pressing environmental problems, such as climate change and air pollution. As she writes: "I work between the push and pull of data science and public policy, and this passion drives me to explore how new technologies, analytical techniques and communication strategies can improve governance and lead to better environmental outcomes in rapidly developing countries like China."
Hsu is jointly appointed at Yale-NUS in Singapore at Yale's School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. She founded and directed Data-Driven Yale, an international team of interdisciplinary researchers, scientists, programmers and visual designers. Under her direction, Data-Driven Yale works collaboratively with scholars and practitioners around the world to collect, transform and communicate information, creating new knowledge and policy tools designed to make the world greener and healthier. Her work has been published in scientific journals like Nature and Nature Climate Change and featured in media like The Economist and the New York Times.
Angel Hsu | Speaker | TED.com