Friends of Socialist China’s US committee recently organised a hybrid event in Portland on the theme ‘China’s Global Green Revolution’, co-facilitated by Sara Flounders and Carlos Martinez, alongside seven contributors to the book China Changes Everything. The discussion explored how China’s lead in renewable energy, reforestation, ecological agriculture and green technology is reshaping the global response to the climate crisis – and why defending that contribution against the new cold war matters for the whole of humanity.
The following review, by Lyn Neeley, summarises the speakers’ contributions, from record-efficiency coal plants and the race for lunar helium-3 to glow-in-the-dark street plants and saltwater rice. A recording of the event is available via the International Action Center.
This article first appeared in Workers World.
Seven authors of the book “China Changes Everything” spoke at the Portland-based webinar event “China’s Global Green Revolution” on May 16. Each contributor discussed their chapter of the book in light of this year’s rapid global changes and China’s development as a global leader in green energy production and innovation.
The meeting was facilitated by Sara Flounders and Carlos Martinez, who began by saying the “climate crisis is one of the defining issues of our era and the biggest existential crisis faced by humanity. We’ve been relying on the capitalist class to solve it for us, but they’ve made precious little progress, while China . . . is now responsible for over half the world’s renewable [energy] capacity.”
Kyle Ferrana addressed some of the myths about China propagated in the Western press, particularly regarding the use of coal-fired power plants. Chinese coal plants now set the world record for efficiency, and the newer, cleaner state-owned coal capacity is being built to replace older, less efficient plants. State-of-the-art Chinese coal technology burns hotter and produces more power with less pollution than Western coal plants. Ferrana recently visited China and testified that the skies over the largest Chinese cities are quite clear.
Ferrana spoke about China’s efforts in reforestation and aquaculture: “China has doubled the amount of forest cover since 1980. . . . More trees are planted [in China] each year than in the rest of the world combined.” He said that Chinese wild ocean fishing peaked in 2015 and is now in decline. In the last few decades, aquaculture production has doubled and now dominates over 50% of the entire global market.
Janet Mayes then delivered a presentation titled “Behind the Artemis Moon Mission: The Race for Moondust.” Moondust, she explained, contains helium-3 crystals. When used in fusion technology, helium-3 promises to produce abundant clean energy without nuclear waste.
She said: “China identified helium-3 crystals in a mineral sample obtained during their 2021 moon probe. Three space missions bringing back the helium-3 rich moondust would provide our entire planet with energy for a year, rendering fossil fuels and current nuclear power plants obsolete.”
She explained that imperialists are horrified that China could be the first country to gather precious moondust. If the imperialists lose this space race, they will lose the opportunity to corner the multibillion-dollar market for this potentially planet-saving technology.
Mayes contrasted China’s energy production, which is geared toward protecting the planet, with that of the U.S., where contracts are already being written and venture capital is quietly pouring in to exploit the moon’s resources for profit instead.
KJ Noh then spoke about the “Hydrocarbon Empire.” He said that the West threatens to overthrow governments and go to war for the privilege of holding onto and controlling hydrocarbons. China, however, has shown that it is possible to harness capitalism for building socialism and move towards ecological development. China’s Ecological Civilization is leading the world towards a possible way out of climate catastrophe.
The scale of Chinese production has driven down the price of green technology by almost 90% since 2010 and this is changing the energy landscape — not just in China, but globally. Noh ended by saying: “Ironically, by starting an illegal war and thus reducing the flow of hydrocarbons, Trump is accelerating the move towards decarbonization, the best promotion for Chinese renewables possible.”
Sara Flounders described several recent innovations that have dramatically improved Chinese agriculture, production and urban ecology. Over 20 species of glow-in-the-dark fluorescent plants can be found along urban streets, engineered with the goal of replacing traditional streetlights and reducing energy consumption. Chinese-engineered seawater rice can grow in saline soils and brackish water. The plants have cut farmers’ costs for seed and fertilizer in half and have transformed millions of hectares into productive land, with harvests lasting over four years.
Vertical green walls of vegetation that grow on buildings in urban centers reduce city sounds and concrete heat absorption and improve air quality. Flounders said these projects “reflect China’s commitment to sustainable urban development,” and that “the whole population benefits from production decisions that are planned to meet human, environmental and future development needs. It’s a living evergreen process.”
Finally, Carlos Martinez gave compelling closing remarks, pointing out that “China’s green revolution isn’t just benefitting China — it’s currently the single most important factor in determining whether humanity has any chance of avoiding climate breakdown. … China is building a decarbonized pathway for the world and Washington is trying to block it.” He added that developing countries, such as Cuba and those in Africa, “are leapfrogging fossil fuel development and going straight to renewables under terms they can control and afford.”
Martinez contrasted China’s ecological contributions with what the West is doing. Per Martinez, Trump claimed that the world’s renewable transition is a hoax to support China’s exports. “Trump called climate change the greatest con job ever perpetrated,” he added.
Martinez concluded by relaying Mao Zedong’s statement that by the 21st century, China will have made a great contribution to the world: “That contribution is arriving in the form of cheap solar electrified villages, Cuban power stations and a viable global pathway away from fossil fuels. Our job in the West is to defend that contribution against the new cold war and to argue for the broadest possible cooperation with China as the basis for any serious response to this global crisis.”
Speakers were enthusiastic and excited about the hopeful topic of this webinar. A recording can be found at: iacenter.org/webinar-china-and-the-global-green-revolution/
Kyle Ferrana is the Portland-based editor of “China Changes Everything” and author of “Why the World Needs China” (Clarity Press, 2024).
Janet Mayes is a Workers World Party member, manager of the International Action Center web site, psychotherapist, lesbian, amateur astronomer and author of several books.
KJ Noh is an award-winning journalist, political analyst and educator focusing on the geopolitics and political economy of the Asia-Pacific region.
Sara Flounders is a contributing editor to Workers World newspaper and a leader of the International Action Center, the United National Antiwar Coalition and the SanctionsKill Campaign. Read her article “China’s glowing Avatar plants and saltwater rice” at workers.org/2026/05/92623/
Carlos Martinez is a researcher and political activist from London. He has authored several books and writes regularly for several periodicals. He is a co-editor of the Friends of Socialist China platform and a coordinating committee member of the International Manifesto Group.
