Choke Point: China on Wilson Center’s Dialogue Program

Dialogue — the Wilson Center’s award-winning television and radio program that explores the world of ideas through weekly, half-hour conversations with renowned public figures, scholars, journalists, and authors — featured “Choke Point: The World’s Looming Water Crisis.”

JENNIFER TURNER

Director of the China Environment Forum for 11 years, her current projects are focused on U.S.-China energy and climate cooperation, how energy development impacts China’s water resources, China’s environmental governance, and pollution in Lake Tai.

Jennifer Turner, director of the China Environment Forum at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and Keith Schneider, senior editor at Circle of Blue and former New York Times national correspondent, discussed the security threats caused by pollution, climate change, and the growing “choke point” between scarce freshwater supplies and increasing energy demands.

Over the past year, Circle of Blue completed first-of-its-kind, in-depth reporting about the struggles between water and energy, which have profound global implications on everything from food prices to adaptation to climate change. From the coal mines of West Virginia to hydraulic fracturing of natural gas wells in Michigan, Circle of Blue began exploring the “choke points” in U.S. energy production in June 2010.

KEITH SCHNEIDER

Manages Circle of Blue’s story development, reporting, editing, and production. A nationally known journalist and environmental policy expert, he was — for over a decade — a national correspondent for The New York Times, where he is a special writer on energy, real estate, business, and technology.

Read his full bio…

In December 2010, the choke point coverage expanded, in partnership with the China Environment Forum, to the northern coal fields of Inner Mongolia and the rivers of southern China’s hydropower region. In both countries, Circle of Blue documented striking similarities between the increasing demand for energy and the decreasing supplies of freshwater sources that are crucial for energy production.

To hear about this Choke Point reporting, as well as plans to expand it in the future, tune in to the program on the MHZ Worldview channel here.

About dialogue
Since 1988, dialogue has offered informed discussion on important ideas and issues in national and international affairs and history, as well as culture—providing commentary that goes beyond the superficial analysis presented in many of today’s talk shows. The series aims to provide foreign perspectives on world affairs, with presidents, ambassadors, cabinet ministers, and scholars as guests. The program is available to 2.3 million households in the Washington, D.C. metro area via broadcast on MHz Networks digital channel 30.1. The program is also available on cable, satellite, and telco. The show is also available throughout the U.S. on MHz Networks’ national channel, MHz Worldview, to nearly 27 million households, via broadcast and cable affiliates, as well as via DirecTV and WorldTV (G19) satellite.

• Dialogue Worldview — Choke Point: China
• National distribution
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• Twitter: @JohnMilewski
• YouTube
• iTunes: Search “dialogue at the woodrow wilson center”

About Circle of Blue
Circle of Blue is the international, non-partisan network of leading journalists, scientists, and designers that reports and presents the information necessary to respond to the global freshwater crisis. It publishes WaterNews, the daily go-to source for global water news and data. Circle of Blue — a non-profit affiliate of the California-based Pacific Institute, an international water, climate, and policy think tank — is funded by donations from individuals and foundations that believe informed policy makers and the public make better decisions. Click here to support Circle of Blue’s reporting.

About China Environment Forum
Since 1997, the China Environment Forum (CEF) has been active in creating programming and publications to encourage dialogue among U.S. and Chinese scholars, policymakers, businesses, and nongovernmental organizations on environmental and energy challenges in China. CEF has implemented projects, workshops, and exchanges that have brought together environmental policy experts to explore the most imperative environmental and sustainable-development issues facing China. The networks built and the knowledge gathered through meetings, publications, and research activities have established CEF as one of the most reliable sources for China-environment information and have given CEF the capacity to undertake long-term and specialized projects on topics, such as building new U.S.-China energy and climate networks, the water-energy nexus in China, environmental governance, food safety, water management, nongovernmental organization development, environmental justice, and municipal financing for environmental infrastructure.