The nexus between coal and water needs to be looked at, United States–based environment expert Jennifer Turner has said.
Speaking to reporters during an interaction at the US Consulate General in the city on Monday, Ms. Turner, director of the China Environment Forum at the Woodrow Wilson Center, said that in the US, 45 per cent of water is used in nuclear and coal plants to cool them. The last time there was a drought, there was a danger of many of the plants being shut down, she added.
Ms. Turner, who has been working on various environmental issues in the US and China, said with India trying to catch up with China on the industrialisation front, it should take that country’s current situation as an example and learn from its mistakes.
“Present day India is how China was 10 years ago. You have coal-fired plants and 1/3{+r}{+d} of your coal is imported. Due to stringent licensing, coal mines are unable to expand here and so India is the world’s largest importer of coal. You have to see China as a poster child and say no to such things,” she said.
Very few cities conform to the government’s standards as far as ambient air quality is concerned. There are cities where children have never seen blue skies, she said.
She said journalists and NGOs were successful in forcing the hand of the government in that country and had been able to stop environmental degradation in many instances.
US expert says India should take China’s current situation as an example and learn
