Chinese environmental protesters take to the streets

“We don’t need GDP. We need life.” Not a slogan from the anti-G8 protests in Germany this week, though it might have been. The words appear in the closing titles of an online video manifesto from China – part Lao Tzu, part Naomi Klein -- that may mark an unlikely shift in attitudes among the country’s youth, often portrayed as ruthlessly driven by the pursuit of wealth. 

You could be forgiven for finding this surprising. China’s first national plan on climate change, released on June 4, put the country’s remarkable economic growth firmly ahead of environmental concerns – eschewing curbs on greenhouse-gas emissions in favour of increased energy efficiency for the country’s rapidly expanding industry. China’s population want to develop without criticism – and without limits -- say the policy’s defenders. And few would find grounds to dispute it, were it...

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