CHINA

Do we want the Chinese to live like we do?

About 15 years ago I was visiting one of my sons in Jackson, MS, when I read a little article in the local paper announcing that the Unitarians were offering a soapbox at their 4th of July church picnic to anyone who wanted to come down and use it.

Being that the Unitarians and I are kindred spirits, I thought I might amuse them as well as demonstrate my latest book, The Resort Circle: The Best Idea in America: Community of/for Change, advocating a live-better village lifestyle with the ambience of a Walden Two culture and environment.

Whenever people see someone on a soapbox, they become skeptics who want to throw stones and knock the speaker off the soapbox. (For goodness’ sake, don’t take me literally.)

For the most part, my oration fell on deaf ears, if not worse, but I did say something that caused one enlightened, thinking listener to come over and shake my hand.

What did I say that converted him? I had said, “You don’t want the Chinese to live like we do.”

See the recent New York Times series “Choking on Growth: China’s Environmental Crisis.”

For an in-depth, long-range background, see the website of Worldwatch Institute, whose publications I’ve been reading for over 30 years.