First Perspective | Jiang Commentary: Mountains and Rivers Together, Green Civilization | Ecology | Perspective
Chenjiapu Village in Songyang County, Lishui is located on a high mountain cliff, surrounded by clouds and mist all year round. In recent years, by revitalizing idle resources and implanting new business models such as coffee bars, book bars, and homestays, young villagers have returned to their hometowns to start businesses, and the vitality of the countryside continues to burst. Photo taken by Ling Qiliang, a photography enthusiast
Time is a great writer, it can always capture some special days, record the footprints passed, and write the magnificent chapter of history.
Hello, Ecological Day!
Just yesterday, the first National Ecological Day home event was held in Huzhou, Zhejiang, and multiple important achievements in ecological civilization were released.
Why establish an Ecological Day?
Raising a time point to the height of culture and becoming a common consciousness among the people itself highlights the extraordinary nature of things.
The "three relationships" are resounding and powerful, clearly marking the position of ecological civilization in the overall development: in the overall layout of the "Five in One", ecological civilization construction is one of the "positions"; In the basic strategy of adhering to and developing socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era, adhering to harmonious coexistence between humans and nature is one of them; In the new development concept, "green" is one of them; Pollution prevention and control is one of the "three major battles"; "Beautiful" China is one of the goals of building a socialist modernized strong country by the mid-20th century
We have supported an annual economic growth rate of 6.6% with an average annual energy consumption growth rate of 3%, becoming the country with the largest forest resource growth and artificial afforestation area in the world, one of the countries with the fastest reduction in energy consumption intensity, and the world's largest scale of renewable energy development and utilization... "The sky is bluer, the ground is greener, the water is clearer, and the rivers and mountains are more colorful." This is not only our consensus, but also a significant sign of the historic achievements and changes in the cause of the Party and the country in the new era.
The sails are sailing, and the journey is yet to come.
At present, in the era coordinate system constructed during the crucial period of accelerating green and low-carbon high-quality development, as well as the pressure and burden of progress, National Ecological Day has once again sounded a new charge, calling on the whole society to take action together, actively spreading and exemplifying the concept that green waters and green mountains are mountains of gold and silver.
Why is Ecological Day on August 15th?
This has a deep connection with Zhejiang.
This scientific statement, like a bright light, illuminates the bright prospects of green development in Yucun and leads China to embark on a path of coordinated environmental protection and economic development in the future.
The stone tablet in Anjiyu Village reads, "Green waters and green mountains are like mountains of gold and silver.".
Green mountains and clear waters are like mountains of gold and silver. A vivid and vivid sentence contains a correct view of development, a scientific ecological view, and an unchanging concept of purpose. It dialectically and organically unifies a pair of seemingly contradictory things, profoundly revealing the laws of green development and clearly pointing out the path of green development.
Can green mountains and clear waters create value?
The green mountains and clear waters are connected to the protection of the ecological environment, while the golden mountains and silver mountains are connected to the development of the economy and society. What is the relationship between the two?
This is a brand new development concept that reveals the unity of opposites between economic development and environmental protection. In analyzing "contradictions", we see the method of "unity", find the opportunity of "transformation" in solving "contradictions", and find the path of "win-win" in overcoming "dilemmas".
Plants and trees make a country rich. Green mountains and clear waters are not only natural and ecological wealth, but also social and economic wealth. The towering mountains, vast grasslands, and blue sea and sky are all generous gifts from nature and the greatest capital for sustainable human development.
The Italians in the Alps cut down fir forests in exchange for wealth, causing the destruction of high-altitude animal husbandry and flooding disasters; Spanish plantation owners burned forests in Cuba in exchange for wood ash as fertilizer for coffee trees, turning fertile soil into bare rocks... The painful lesson of "exchanging green mountains for gold and silver" has long been analyzed in Dialectics of Nature.
In the face of the ecological crisis, the sword of Damocles hanging above human heads, classical Marxism warns us: "We must remember every step we take: we do not dominate nature like conquerors rule over aliens, nor do we dominate nature like people standing outside of it - on the contrary, we, along with our flesh, blood, and mind, belong to and exist within nature."
On the land of Zhejiang, which is located on the coast of the East China Sea, there is another scene: in Jinxing Village, located at the source of the Qianjiang River, villagers have changed from "various chops" to "walking and looking", and have enjoyed the leisure tourism economy; Located in the southwest of Chun'an County, Xiajiang Village starts with covering the mountains and forests with greenery, pollution control and energy exchange, demolishing dangerous and old buildings, and large-scale rectification, transforming sewage into clear mountains and clear waters, and transforming "poor mountain villages" into "green, rich, and beautiful"; Anjilujia Village has formed a diversified fundraising and multi-party cooperation form of "village collective+company+farmer" through ecological environment investment, which has found more conversion possibilities for green mountains and clear waters;
Xiajiang Village in Chun'an County, Hangzhou has taken the path of ecological and green development, achieving a transformation from "poor, dirty, and poor" to "green, rich, and beautiful".
At this time, Zhejiang's ecological environment has stepped out of the "green line", and the "golden line" of economic and social development has also been rising. In 2016, Zhejiang achieved a per capita GDP of 12577 US dollars, close to the level of high-income economies in the World Bank classification standards; In 2022, the total economic output reached 7.77 trillion yuan, firmly ranking among the top in the country.
This is a scientific ecological civilization view that inherits and develops the Marxist ecological view, contains and promotes excellent traditional Chinese culture, and reveals the inherent laws of ecological prosperity leading to civilization prosperity and ecological decline leading to civilization decline.
Marxism believes that natural objects constitute the natural conditions for human survival, and humans produce, live, and develop in interaction with nature. However, if humans rely on scientific and creative genius to conquer natural forces, then natural forces also retaliate against humans.
For the Chinese nation, which advocates and loves nature, opposing the domination of nature and protecting it through the path of nature has long been deeply rooted in cultural heritage. The Chinese civilization has always advocated the unity of heaven and man, followed the law of nature, and pursued harmonious coexistence between humans and nature. The word "harmony" runs through the cosmology, worldview, social view, and moral view accumulated by the Chinese people in their long-term production and life, and also subtly influences the shaping of the relationship between humans and nature.
Guided by the ecological concept of harmony between heaven and man and the cultivation of all things, our ancestors established a national system for managing mountains, forests, and rivers over 4000 years ago. They established systematic ecological protection institutions and positions to properly handle the dialectical relationship between human needs, environmental protection, and sustainable development.
It is the Marxist view of nature, which is the dialectical unity of man and nature, and the ecological view of Chinese excellent traditional culture that fit and agitate with each other. Therefore, once they meet, they can produce chemical reactions that create new values, new ideas, and new things, opening a new Xintiandi where green water and green mountains and gold and silver mountains are unified.
The concept of "green mountains and clear waters" is a successful exploration of the "combination of two" in the field of ecological civilization. It is based on hot practice, integrating excellent traditional culture with a long and profound history, making our ecological values approachable, allowing the blue sky, blue earth, and clear waters to penetrate into people's hearts, and making ecological culture a common practice that is not realized in daily life.
This is a people-oriented philosophy that responds to the people's yearning for a better life, promotes the common well-being of contemporary and future generations, and opens up a modern path of harmonious coexistence between humans and nature.
If a person does not betray the green mountains, the green mountains will not betray them.
Green mountains and clear waters not only bring a continuous stream of gold and silver, but also are an important part of people's happy life, surpassing gold and silver.
From the past's "longing for food and clothing" to the current "longing for environmental protection", from the past's "seeking survival" to the current "seeking ecology", as people's pockets become more "bulging", their pursuit of beauty has also risen. Who can refuse the beauty and enjoyment brought by the natural beauty of mountains and forests, the blending of blue and green in plains, and the fragrance of birds and flowers in urban and rural areas? On the contrary, if the air and drinking water are not up to standard, there is no happiness to speak of. For human survival, the ecological environment has no substitute.
Tangdi Village in Keqiao District, Shaoxing is dominated by flowers and trees, which enriches the people and beautifies the countryside.
On the new journey, we will maintain the strategic focus on strengthening the construction of ecological civilization, improve the "ecological aspect" of Chinese path to modernization, and achieve dynamic balance in high-quality development and high-level protection. The road to a beautiful China will be wider and wider.
Modernization, a necessary path from traditional civilization to modern civilization, embodies the beautiful imagination of several generations of Chinese people for national rejuvenation and national prosperity. "Chinese path to modernization" was written in the report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, which opened the Chinese "modernization of their own home".
From the perspective of the division of civilizations, bringing the modernization of the harmonious coexistence of man and nature into the overall pattern of Chinese path to modernization, the unremitting pursuit of the community of life between man and nature, and the efforts to protect nature and the ecological environment are just committed to breaking the myth of "modernization=westernization" with Chinese path to modernization, and showing another picture of modernization.
Upon closer inspection, it can be observed that in the process of over 200 years of human modernization, there have been no more than 30 industrialized countries and a population of only 1 billion. Western countries have embarked on the path of modernization through the Industrial Revolution, leading many people to fall into a misconception that modernization is "Westernization.". And China's road selection and development practice have proven that we can completely abandon the modernization old path of Western developed countries that consume a large amount of resources and energy, recklessly destroy the ecological environment, and pollute before governing, and walk out a beautiful new path of harmonious coexistence between humans and nature in China.
Chinese path to modernization will move more than 1.4 billion people into modernization as a whole. The size and difficulty also determine that to fundamentally solve the ecological environment problem, we must implement the development concept of innovation, coordination, green, open, and sharing, and we must put it into the overall situation of building a new development pattern and promoting high-quality development.
Over the past 20 years, along the path guided by the "August 8th Strategy", adhering to the concept that green water and green mountains are golden mountains and silver mountains, taking "green Zhejiang" and the creation of an ecological province as important contents, systematically constructing the "four beams and eight pillars" of ecological civilization construction, and constantly climbing to new heights of ecological civilization construction, Zhejiang has taken the lead in opening the provincial practice of Chinese path to modernization, which is harmonious coexistence between man and nature, and also opened a window for ecological civilization construction in the process of Chinese path to modernization.
Zhejiang is like this, and the whole country is like this.
The power of truth and the great power of practice have hastened the birth of a new era decade with the fastest and best progress in ecological environment protection, fully verified the effectiveness of the new road to a beautiful China, and verified that the exploration and development of Chinese path to modernization requires a stronger theoretical awareness and historical initiative.
In the whole concerto symphony of Chinese path to modernization, common prosperity is one of the most graceful parts.
Ecologists have described it as follows: poverty and wealth may not necessarily be visible from individuals, but they can always be directly seen from the ecological environment.
Wusi Village in Deqing County, Huzhou has achieved the operation of the entire village as a scenic area, creating a rural complex and helping the entire village increase income and become prosperous.
The two important characteristics of "Chinese path to modernization is the modernization of common prosperity for all people" and "Chinese path to modernization is the modernization of harmonious coexistence of man and nature" are both parallel and mutual penetration. Opening up the blueprint of dreams from an ecological perspective, a more comprehensive scene of common prosperity is presented before us.
Guided by the concept of "green mountains and clear waters are invaluable assets", the sense of common prosperity will be further highlighted, and accessibility will be further expanded. Today, Zhejiang can proudly say that more than 90% of the villages in the province have met the standards of beautiful countryside in the new era, presenting a vivid situation of ecological beauty, strong economy, and people's wealth throughout the region. Prompted by the glorious mission of "playing an exemplary and leading role in promoting common prosperity and Chinese path to modernization", a good ecological environment is becoming the most inclusive livelihood.
Let's work together for common prosperity, not to be far from mountains and seas. Zhejiang's ecological products and culture also span the boundless mountains and seas, interpreting the story of cross provincial common prosperity with green as the medium.
In the spring of May, at the peak of Chahai Mountain in Zhongzhai Town, Guizhou Yanhe Autonomous County, with an altitude of over 1300 meters, the "White Leaf No.1" tea base has entered its third year of picking season, and the fragrance of tea fills the air as tea farmers flip their fingers. The 3.6 million "White Leaf No.1" tea seedlings here come from Huangdu Village, Anji County, Zhejiang Province. Flying over thousands of rivers and mountains, the Zhejiang Guizhou relay continues to write the story of "a leaf enriches a local people".
A stone tablet with the words "A leaf enriches a local people" is carved on the edge of a ten thousand acre tea garden in Huangdu Village, Anji. Facing the future with pictures, we have confidence and confidence to play the "ecological advantage card" well, walk steadily on the "green development path", paint the "urban and rural harmony chapter", play the "co construction and sharing song", let "more green" and "more income", "good ecology" and "good life", "good scenery" and "good prospects" progress and win together, and maintain determination, continuous efforts, and courageous progress on the road to common prosperity paved with green ecology.
The blue sky and white clouds, the twinkling stars, the clear water and green banks, the shallow bottom of fish flying, the singing of birds and the fragrance of flowers, the idyllic scenery, and the smiling faces brimming with happiness will all witness this green Chinese path to modernization road, and will also be condensed into the most moving notes on the road, which will interpret the value background and the significance of Chinese path to modernization more richly and stereoscopically.
The dissemination of civilization includes two aspects: transforming materials and inspiring spirit. The significant transformation from a participant in global environmental governance to a leader embodies the contemporary responsibility of making greater contributions to the construction of a clean and beautiful world through the wisdom of the East.
From the Zhejiang sample to the China plan, from the community of life on Earth to the community of shared future for mankind, the solutions to ecological crises and the continuation of civilization point to the reconstruction of the relationship between humans and nature.
Not long ago, the United Nations Meteorological Organization officially announced that July 2023 will be the month with the highest global average temperature on record, possibly breaking a record for at least 120000 years. Abnormal precipitation, uncontrollable mountain fires, melting glaciers, and poor harvests of food, extreme weather events serve as a warning fable to humanity that nature has become angry and begun its revenge against humanity.
The CPC is very sober and clearly aware of this, and is the first ruling party in the world to raise "ecological civilization" to the level of governance and administration, and propose to build ecological civilization. We have created ecological miracles such as the transformation of Saihanba sandy land into forest and sea, the restoration of Cangshan and Erhai to their original colors, and the restoration of the clear flow of the Jiuqu Yellow River. The story of Yucun in the new era further breaks down the binary opposition between economic development and environmental protection, verifying the true value of "green mountains and clear waters are invaluable assets".
China's green development practices not only benefit China, but also benefit the world by expanding the global green landscape. Chinese wisdom and solutions are continuously providing solutions and references for countries around the world to achieve harmonious coexistence between humans and nature.
"Ecological civilization" is a beautiful and unique gift from China, as praised by United Nations experts without hesitation. This kind of praise will not fall from the sky. In the past few decades, despite carrying a lack of wealth and a difficult search for solutions to the contradiction between development and protection, China has never wavered. It has always "kept up with the times, looked at the world, assumed the responsibility of a major country, and demonstrated the responsibility of a major country", actively participated in building a global ecological governance pattern of mutual benefit, rights sharing, and responsibility sharing, and participated in the formulation and promotion of rules for global environmental governance.
Walking on the land of Zhijiang, you will find that green is seen as wealth, development, and people's livelihood. Looking across the country, green has become the most distinctive, profound, and reliable foundation for China's high-quality development. The reshaping of the relationship between humans and nature has unified them into a new form of civilization, and "green mountains and clear waters are like mountains of gold and silver" has become a new realm of civilization that transcends industrial civilization.
The newly built village in Dinghai District, Zhoushan adopts the development model of "cultural leisure tourism" and has formed a characteristic rural leisure economy integrating catering and accommodation.
Green development is both "China's" and "world's". In various important conferences, conventions, and agreements in the ecological field, China's figure is indispensable and reassuring. Actively promote the signing, entry into force, and implementation of the Paris Agreement; Fully implement the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change; Announce the "dual carbon" goal and achieve the highest global carbon emission intensity reduction; Initiate a global development initiative and call on the international community to accelerate the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development... China stands at the height of being responsible for human civilization, actively promotes green development cooperation among countries, and contributes its strength to sustainable human development.
This power stems from the great party's commitment to fighting for human progress, from the highest original aspiration and mission of "everything for the people", and also from the deep inner desire of the people to pursue a better life.
National Ecological Day not only deepens the national consensus on ecological civilization based on the new stage of development, awakens action consciousness and ideological consciousness, but also demonstrates the possibility of new forms of civilization to the world. How can the world's largest developing country address the balance between green mountains and clear waters from a development perspective, respond to the needs of the people for a better life from "food and clothing" to "environmental protection" from a worldview, and find an effective way to solve the contradictions in modern development from a methodological perspective? The answer to this question itself is powerful enough to inspire more countries to pursue a civilized development path of production, prosperity, and good ecology, showcasing a vivid picture of harmonious coexistence between humans and nature.
"Ecological Day" began in Zhejiang, moved towards the whole country, and is oriented towards the future. It is not only a national venue, but also closely related to individuals, inspiring Zhejiang to continuously amplify its leading advantages in ecological province construction and deepen our thinking on the community of human and natural life. I see many beautiful green mountains, but they should see me like this. To plan and promote the ecological and environmental protection work of the new journey with a higher position, broader perspective, and greater efforts, and to be a more proactive and proactive guardian and builder of the harmonious coexistence of good people and nature, ecological civilization will be more vibrant, and a beautiful China will be more vibrant and charming.
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