As Causecast.org recently reported, China is so desperate to get high-polluting cars off the roads of Beijing, the city government is willing to pay drivers $3,600 not to use their cars. This comes at an interesting time for China as it battles its impacts on the environment, and perhaps equally important, how the rest of the world views its response. As the entire world watched during the lead up to the Olympics, the country managed to make some positive strides, including acity-wide ban on cars one day a week based on license plate numbers, which according to the Chinese government greatly reduced city-wide pollution.
As Causecast.org recently reported, China is so desperate to get high-polluting cars off the roads of Beijing, the city government is willing to pay drivers $3,600 not to use their cars.
This comes at an interesting time for China as it battles its impacts on the environment, and perhaps equally important, how the rest of the world views its response. As the entire world watched during the lead up to the Olympics, the country managed to make some positive strides, including acity-wide ban on cars one day a week based on license plate numbers, which according to the Chinese government greatly reduced city-wide pollution.
This new initiative would take about 10 percent of the city’s 3.5 million registered cars off the roads—an amount that is estimated to account for 50 percent of the city’s notorious vehicle pollution.
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The Causecast.org article goes on to claim, “With the carrot comes a stick.â€
Though people willing to trade in their heavily-polluting vehicles will be rewarded for their deeds, those who choose to continue driving their cars that do not meet a certain emission standard will be fined 100 yuan (approximately US$12), roughly 13% of the weekly income of the average Beijinger.
However, the catch is those who typically drive the heavily-polluting vehicles are those who fall on the lower end of the income bracket, not as the article points out, those who drive the Audis or Geelies.
Which brings us to an interesting paradox. As China has culturally and economically opened up to the West in the past years, one of the things to arrive and start to take root is the LOHAS lifestyle. Lin Hui, the founder ofditan360.com, a non-profit, environmental website about all things green in China, says that the LOHAS culture has become trendy in China, especially among young urbanites. Conversely, the cultural glasnost China is experiencing has led to other trends.
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