Keynote Visitor
Judith Shapiro, American University
Professor Judith Shapiro will speak about how ordinary Chinese people are responding to China’s environmental challenges as they seek to mitigate the impacts of climate change, air and water pollution, soil contamination, and unsafe food on their own health and well-being. Can environmental NGOs work effectively in an era of intensified authoritarian controls? Can China achieve “ecological civilization” without displacing its environmental harms beyond its borders? Will the Belt and Road be a mechanism for “green” development or will it exacerbate biodiversity loss, climate change, and the hyper-extraction of the planet’s limited resources? Please join a conversation about this and other implications of the stunning rise of China.