“If you take one picture of China, it may not be good, but if you put all pictures together, it‚s a moving story.” C.H. Tung, former Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administration Region.

The Beijing Olympics ended with the host country topping the gold-medal standings with 51 as might be expected from a nation with 1,330,044,605 potential athletes.

As the world‚s largest and most populous country, China also leads in categories far less flattering. Of the 20 most-polluted cities in the world, 16 are in China. About 300 Chinese cities suffer from severe water shortages. A Chinese research institute recently reported that 400,000 premature deaths are caused every year in China by diseases linked to air pollution.

China is the “factory of the world.”  In a global search for the lowest possible prices for goods, the world came knocking on China‚s door and a boom was born, resulting in an economy that has grown by almost 10 percent every year for the past three decades.

In 2007, China consumed 38 percent of the world‚s total coal output. The country is also the biggest importer of logs and tropical wood. Natural resources are shipped to China where they are processed and turned into products exported to the global market. The resulting pollution is left behind in China.

With higher personal incomes, urban Chinese are buying more cars. According to the Traffic Management Bureau (TMB) of the Ministry of Public Security, China saw an increase of 4,084,176 new cars in the first half of 2008, or over 22,000 every day.

The total number of cars in the country has topped 126 million, with 1,300 new cars being added to Beijing‚s streets every day.

China recently surpassed the United States as the world‚s largest emitter of greenhouse gases. It is estimated that the general burning of fossil fuels and the coal consumed by the cement industry together produced 6.2 billion tons of carbon dioxide in 2006.

The United States consumes roughly 20 million barrels of oil per day, almost one quarter of the world‚s daily consumption. China by contrast consumes 6.93 million barrels per day, an amount that is rising rapidly.

China invested more than $40 billion US in the Olympic Games. The host country viewed the athletic event as a chance to show the world its dynamic economic progress. Telecasts of the event garnered record ratings in both China and the United States, with a global television audience of at least 1.2 billion people.

The world saw a beautiful country with spectacular architecture and ultramodern technology. China now has more than 200 million “netizens” and 500 million mobile phone users.

The Olympics will leave a positive, enduring legacy for China, including a more aggressive approach to curbing air pollution and other environmental problems. Smog that shrouded the city early in the Games gave way to mostly clear skies, easing fears that some endurance events might be hazardous for athletes.

Urban legends perpetuated by climate change naysayers suggest China is building either one new coal-fired power plant a week or two a week, or one a month. Whatever the number, 70 percent of China’s electricity is produced at coal-fired plants and the fact they are among the dirtiest energy generators in the world has not gone unnoticed among hundreds of millions of Chinese.

Sandstorms, polluted air, blizzards, flooding, algae blooms, and extreme weather have reached an extent that neither the government nor the public can continue to ignore.

We can boycott Chinese products because we may disagree with the country‚s crackdown on individual and religious freedoms and dissent. We may look with disdain on China‚s communist government that has dominated every moment in the country for the past 59 years.

Or we can help China build on the renewed sense of nationalism that the Olympics engendered. Let‚s rally behind this nation‚s haul of 100 medals and assist its government to become more self-confident and secure. Such support will aid the country in becoming more willing to relax repression and entertain reform on some issues.

China has the world‚s greatest potential to develop renewable energy, including both wind and solar energy. “The China Wind Power Report,” prepared by Greenpeace in November 2007 predicts if the Chinese government gave full policy support to wind power, the country could become one of the top three wind energy markets in the world by 2020.

The climate change group 350.org which is trying to use the number to motivate the world community to strive for a reduction in current atmospheric CO2 levels from 387 to 350 parts per million says many Chinese have grown unhappy with the plunging quality of life caused by out-of-control environmental degradation.

Everyone from students to business leaders understands the need to build cleaner, more creative, higher-tech industries. Many are strategizing how to grow a 350 movement in China and they need our support.

Like numbers, sport can be a universal language in the fight against global warming and social injustice.

For more information on China‚s environment, visit the Greenpeace website http://www.greenpeace.org/china/en/about/lowdown-on-china-environment.