It is estimated that air pollution is responsible for 1.1 million deaths annually in China. Heavy reliance on coal to fuel the production of electricity combined with rapid industrialization have contributed to China’s air pollution crisis. The problem has become so serious that China’s Premier, Li Keqiang, used the 2014 Communist Party’s Annual Congress as a platform to declare war on air pollution in China. As part of its strategy to reduce air pollution, the Chinese government is putting measures in place to reduce the country’s production of steel and its reliance on coal as an energy source to fuel its steel plants. (It is estimated that one city alone in China produces more than 5 percent of the world’s steel.) The central government is making significant investments in alternative energy sources (wind and solar), and local government officials are urging city residents to abandon coal-fueled cooking stoves and furnaces. However, it is not just central and local government officials who are pressing for new technologies and tighter environmental controls. An emerging urban middle-class in China is increasingly calling for reforms to clean China’s air. Do you believe China can cure its air pollution crisis alone, or is a collaborative global response to air pollution needed for China and the world’s other industrialized nations? Explain. See also Beth Gardiner, “China’s Surprising Solutions to Clear Killer Air,”