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Synopsis

The rapid growth of the Chinese economy caused a popular disregard in China of the environment, but China is taking steps in the correct direction, and the West is largely unaware of the work that China is doing to combat environmental degradation. International attention was focused on Beijing during the month of August for the 2008 Summer Olympics; the Olympics are an established framework for positive interactions between China and the rest of the world. The city of Beijing cleaned up for the Olympics, but, after spending three months in Kunming, China in 2005, I questioned the sustainability of this clean-up. Jeff Arak and I shot a short film about this “greening” effort. We showed that environmentalism in China relies largely on environmental education, and this pattern of environmentalism does not effect change in the short term. We attempted to show the hopefulness that is inherent in this pattern of environmentalism.