has lent new momentum to the gloomy view of China’s environmental future amidst its headlong rush for economic growth. However, the gloom over China’s environment may be overstated. China is an ideal test case of the controversial idea of the "environmental Kuznets Curve," according to which economic growth precedes environmental improvement. The question for China is whether it can trace an abbreviated trajectory along the environment/development curve and avoid some of the environmental damage that the United States and Europe experienced in their industrial revolutions. Although current environmental trends in China are serious and deteriorating in many areas, some unappreciated signs of improvement are appearing.
Recent environmental news out of China
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PERC Reports Magazine, Summer 2026
A special issue exploring American conservation history as the nation turns 250.
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Thomas Jefferson: The Lost Founding Father of American Conservation
Two years before he authored the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson set out on the lifelong project of conserving Virginia’s Natural Bridge. Michaelle Browers has described the effort as “perhaps the first major act of nature preservation in the new republic.” The man who would be Governor of Virginia and President of the United StatesContinue reading "Recent environmental news out of China"
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How the Eagle Came Back
As we celebrate the nation’s 250th anniversary, it is heartening that America’s national symbol, the bald eagle, is no longer imperiled. Although once at risk of extinction throughout much of its historical range, this majestic species rebounded in the late 20th century, and populations are now in good health. At the time of the nation’sContinue reading "Recent environmental news out of China"