Zhu Dajian: "Green waters and green mountains are like mountains of gold and silver" can be interpreted as having three layers of meaning: ecology, language, and mountains of gold
Scholars participating in international academic exchanges and discussing green development often encounter two language issues: one is our ecological civilization language, and the other is the sustainable development language of the United Nations. Unilateral use of our language to talk about ecological civilization often fails to achieve the desired results.
Sustainable development is the "golden key" to solving global problems, and it is the greatest point of convergence of interests and the best entry point for cooperation among all parties. In international communication, we should be good at telling the story of China's ecological civilization in the language of sustainable development.
One is to interpret the Chinese style connotation of ecological civilization using sustainable development language.
Sustainable development includes two aspects: sustainability means that the ecological environment is acceptable, equivalent to "green mountains and clear waters"; Development means economic and social development, equivalent to a mountain of gold and silver. Together, sustainable development is economic and social development that is acceptable to the ecological environment.
On this basis, three layers of meaning can be interpreted in a targeted manner: the first layer is the theory of economic, social, environmental, or production, social, and ecological coordination and parallel connection, which requires both gold and silver mountains, as well as green waters and mountains, rather than the traditional theory of sequence or series of inverted U-shaped curves of resources and environment; The second layer is the bottom line theory of development within the carrying capacity of resources and environment, rather than the endless growth theory and externality of overdraft of resources and environment; The third layer, "Green mountains and clear waters are like mountains of gold and silver", is a value theory that transforms ecological advantages into development advantages, rather than the ecological environment without value theory in the context of traditional economic growth.
The second is to interpret the new development content of China's ecological civilization using the language of sustainable development.
Foreign countries often equate China's ecological civilization with traditional environmental protection and end of pipe governance. To speak of China's ecological civilization in the language of sustainable development, it is necessary to deeply interpret the rich connotations of China's ecological civilization and the paradigm shift from high-speed growth to high-quality development.
Our ecological civilization and green development include pollution control, carbon reduction, green expansion, and growth, involving major structural transformations such as energy structure, industrial structure, transportation structure, and building structure. By interpreting the concept of green development in the United Nations and linking it with relevant United Nations goals, it is necessary to delve into the four decoupling of China's green development, namely the decoupling of energy consumption from carbon dioxide, the decoupling of urban development from construction land, the decoupling of transportation from small cars, and the decoupling of production and consumption from linear economy.
The third is to interpret the ideological contribution of China's ecological civilization in the language of sustainable development.
China is not only a practitioner of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, but also an explorer of global sustainability science. China's ecological civilization practices and policies can make ideological contributions to the deepening development of sustainable science.
For example, emphasizing the existence of ecological and environmental limits in economic and social development, the substitution between natural capital and material capital is conditional, and institutionalizing regulations on ecological protection red lines, permanent farmland red lines, and urban growth boundaries.
