China's Environmental Crisis: An Enquiry into the Limits of National Development

In 1982, Vaclav Smil turned upside down traditional perceptions of China as a green paradise in "The Bad Earth", a disturbing book. This new volume, drawn on a much broader canvas, updates and expands on the basic arguments and perceptions of "The Bad Earth". This book is not a systematic litany of what went wrong and how much - but rather an inquiry into the fundamental factors, needs, prospects, and limits of modern Chinese society, all seen through the critical environmental constraints and impacts. Chapter 1 People's Mouths; Chapter 2 Existential Necessities; Chapter 3 China's Modernization; Chapter 4 Energizing the Advances; Chapter 5 Growing Food; Chapter 6 Living with the Limits;