In the Anthropocene, debates about global climate risks have taken carbon as a measure of policy success, with land-based mitigation strategies like afforestation receiving particular scrutiny. While scientists and policymakers discuss forestry as a potential climate solution, China has been implementing massive forestry projects for decades, drastically transforming environments under the Ecological Civilization framework. This article showcases China’s globally emerging paradigm of Eco-Civilization and its implications for the climate-forestry nexus. Drawing parallels with Ulrich Beck’s concept of ‘metamorphosis’ and Bruno Latour’s concept of ‘mutation,’ we argue that China’s Eco-Civilization aspires to a fundamental transformation in worldview – but one that is promoted as distinctly non-Western. We use the case of forestry to illuminate the potentially unique features of Chinese environmentalism as encapsulated in Eco-Civilization. We find that Eco-Civilization affords a strong role for the central state in actively building and constructing an ecological future in which the natural and the socio-political are not considered separate. This is in contrast to certain Western visions of preserving nature from human encroachment through grassroots environmental movements. We conclude by highlighting the theoretical contributions more pluralized debates about China’s environmental rise could bring to environmental sociology.

Feeding the world's growing population, while producing economic benefits with limited environmental effects, is a major challenge faced by global food supply chains. This is especially apparent when the production stage is predominated by smallholders as they each face varying economic and environmental demands, making it difficult to mobilize them on the ground. This study investigated how the environmental and economic sustainability of wheat supply chains could be improved by analyzing the performance of all stakeholders, especially the smallholders. Results showed that 77% of GHG emissions came from wheat cultivation, and less than 8% of the total economic benefits were recouped during this stage. In contrast, smallholders in the Science and Technology Backyards, reduced their GHG emissions by 16.4% and improved their economic benefits by 1.3- fold. Furthermore, a 2.6-fold increase in profit (1808 USD) with GHG emission reduction was achieved simultaneously by integrating all individual stages as a whole. This study found that the sustainability of the wheat supply chain was mainly affected by wheat cultivation. It also demonstrated the potential efficacy of empowering smallholders and integration of all individual stages as a whole to improve the sustainability of food supply chains.

Rosewood has become the world’s most trafficked group of endangered species, with global seizure values surpassing that of ivory, rhino horn, and big cats combined. This is almost entirely attributable to growth in demand from China over the past two decades. Since 2000, classical rosewood furniture that dates back to the Ming Dynasty has been revived as a hot cultural commodity. This article explores China’s recent rosewood renaissance, which has brought annual market sales up to nearly $26 billion. In contrast to accounts that attribute Chinese demand for endangered species to the conspicuous consumption of a rising elite, I focus on the speculative aspect of the demand. I argue that China’s rosewood boom is largely the result of speculative investment that functions as a “cultural fix” to the country’s growing problem of capital overaccumulation. As with Harvey’s spatial fix, a cultural fix pioneers new productive outlets for the accumulation of surplus value. Unlike Harvey’s spatial fix, however, a cultural fix seeks these new productive outlets in cultural realms—specifically, through the mutual convertibility of cultural and economic capital, as defined by Bourdieu. Given the oversaturation of more conventional investment avenues, Chinese investors have increasingly turned to rosewood and other culturally important endangered resources, such as ivory, rhino horn, and tiger parts, as a new outlet for the accumulation of surplus value. More than conspicuous consumption, China’s rosewood boom is the result of rampant financial speculation resulting from a cultural fix. Key Words: China, cultural capital, endangered species, overaccumulation, spatial fix.