I was able to answer the question, but not as eloquently as I would have liked. It is often easier for me to answer questions by telling someone else’s story. During the debrief I was also asked why the China-US Youth Forum on Climate Change that SustainUS helped organize was a highlight of my time in Copenhagen; I couldn’t find the words to explain why or how the event moved me, so I said, “watch the film I put together.” Sometimes I find that even someone else’s creation conveys my feelings better than I can: just this morning, I told friends on Facebook that this video from the UK youth explains my experience in Copenhagen better than I’ve been able to so far.

But my friend Morgan’s post on It’s Getting Hot in Here today reminded me of the importance of being able to tell my own story (and not just through video, though I find that method important in its own right). Ironically, this concept of sharing our personal stories – between US and Chinese youth and then back to our home communities about the power of doing so – is probably what made the China-US Youth Forum so special to me.

So while I take some time to find the words to tell my story, my question to you is, what is your story? Why are you involved? When did it all start? What drives you? What initially sparked you and what renews your spirit in the movement? Why are you a climateer?

Last month at the UN Climate Summit in New York, President of China Hu Jintao announced a promise to reduce the rate of carbon intensity, marking the first time that China has directly addressed carbon emissions policy. Keep in mind that this still means total CO2 will continue to increase, but still, a bigger commitment than we’ve seen from China so far.

There’s always a lot of debate about how much China (and other developing countries) should be putting into carbon mitigation efforts.  The traditional arguments, briefly:

• Developed countries have contributed to the majority of cumulative CO2 in the atmosphere from decades of industrialization. China is still developing, can’t afford to take a hardline stance on climate change, and deserves the chance to raise the standard of living so that its people can enjoy the same quality of life as we do in North America and Europe. Plus, as the Central Party likes to emphasize, China’s per capita emissions are significantly lower than America’s.

• As of 2006, China surpassed the U.S. in total yearly CO2 emissions, and now stands as the number one emitter of CO2. Climate change requires global cooperation and China has a responsibility to be a part of those efforts. Without China’s participation, the rest of the world will probably not be able to stabilize the concentration of CO2 at a safe level (which is now generally agreed to be 350 ppm; see James Hansen.)

Both of those are valid points, but I am always hesitant to take too much of a comparative attitude when it comes to climate policy. That often leads to finger-pointing and inaction until someone else does something, which is the kind of atmosphere we have right now. I think it’s more important – and productive – to look at what each country can do given its own set of parameters.

So let’s just look at China for a second:

It’s in China’s best interest to act on climate change now.

Aside from general world doom if we let global warming go on unabated, there are a lot of economic and security issues at stake. Domestically, desertification is rapidly reducing the availability of quality land for agriculture and development.  Disputes over loss of livelihood, land use, and land distribution already comprise a sizable percentage of Chinese incidents of social unrest, and are only predicted to increase in the future because of global warming’s effect on the land. Effectively dealing with social unrest is a major weakness of local governments and a sore spot for high-level officials.   The potential threat that such social conflicts pose to domestic security would be an unwanted burden.

Internationally, water rights issues between China and its neighbors pose potential national security problems. Pretty much all of China and Southeast Asia’s freshwater sources originate in the Himalayas. China places high importance on maintaining absolute autonomy over its internal affairs.  Because climate change issues are transnational, however, surrounding countries may place increasing demands on the country’s domestic resource management, which may lead to regional tensions.

It’s true, China has several great things going for it now: solar heaters are pretty widespread and wind is taking off in the northwest. The city of Beijing has a program to replace coal stoves with electric heaters in old hutong houses in Beijing. The CCP announced new electric car subsidies earlier this year. I don’t need to itemize everything.

But there is ample room for China to tackle climate issues beyond the more direct and obvious steps, such as making coal plants more efficient and mandating more energy from renewables. Like China’s entry into the World Trade Organization, which initiated several economic reforms, climate security might serve as a catalyst for restructuring China’s energy sector or for expanding policy  implementation and enforcement at the local and provincial level. Structurally, China’s government and tax systems reward regions based on the revenue they generate. Enforcement mechanisms are weak; local officials turn the other cheek if industry isn’t following the rules, so long as it boosts GDP. Establishing a firm rule of law and mainstreaming environmental protection and other qualitative requirements into evaluation criteria of government officials is one way to take the emphasis off of profit alone.

Let’s hope that climate change can be a platform to ease ever-growing tensions between China and the U.S. I hope that China will embrace these climate talks positively, using them as a forum to engage in more international cooperation to do more to be green at home.