WHEN A BILLION CHINESE JUMP: HOW CHINA WILL SAVE THE WORLD- OR DESTROY IT- Talk with Jonathan Watts and Kerry Brown August 11, 2010

With foul air, filthy water, rising temperatures and encroaching deserts, China is already suffering an environmental disaster. Now it faces a stark choice: either accept catastrophe, or make radical changes. Award-winning journalist Jonathan Watts travelled across the country to witness this environmental challenge, moving from mountain paradises to industrial wastelands, examining the responses of those at the top of society to the problems and hopes of those below. His new book When a Billion Chinese Jump is not a call for panic, but a demonstration that – even with the crisis so severe, and the political scope so limited – the actions of individuals can make a difference. Jonathan Watts is the Asia environment correspondent for the Guardian newspaper. He covered the Copenhagen Climate Conference, was short-listed for Foreign Correspondent of the Year at the 2006 British Press Awards, and has won awards for his environmental stories the One World Media Awards in 2007 and 2009. Kerry Brown is a Senior Fellow at Chatham House and author of numerous papers and articles on Chinese and East Asian culture and politics.