A longtime China journalist, Craig Simons is writing a book about China’s large – and growing – global environmental footprint. The book, as yet untitled, will be published by St. Martin’s Press in late 2012 or early 2013. Craig was the Asia bureau chief for Cox Newspapers from 2005 until 2009 and before that reported from Beijing and Chongqing for Newsweek. He has written for other magazines and newspapers including Outside, Backpacker, The New York Times, and Science. In 2011, he was a fellow at the Alicia Patterson Foundation, which funded some of the reporting used in these stories
Last Updated: April 3, 2014
Environment
01.02.12
Chinese Demand Stokes U.S. Coal Battle
TRINIDAD, Colorado—When the New Elk mine reopened amid windblown prairies last winter, it attracted little attention. But the mine—a long shaft boring through some of the world’s most valuable coal—strikes at the heart of a growing debate about the...
Environment
01.02.12
As China Grows Rich, Rainforests Fall
An incredible forest lies on its side in this gritty industrial town in southeastern China. On the southern bank of the Yangtze River nine-foot-diameter kevazingo trees from Gabon rub against Cambodian rosewoods and Indonesian teaks. Nearby, rust-...
Environment
01.01.12
China’s Rising Consumer Class Sparks Climate Change Fears
TUOJIA VILLAGE, China—When you think about China’s growing greenhouse gas emissions, you probably don’t think of people like Zhang Chao or his father Zhang Dejun. Zhang Chao, a thirty-five-year-old middle school teacher living in small city in...
Environment
11.14.11
China’s Rise Creates Clouds of U.S. Pollution
At more than 9,000 feet along the crest of Oregon’s Cascade mountain range, the top of this snow-covered peak normally enjoys some of America’s cleanest air. So when sensitive scientific instruments picked up ozone—the chief component of smog—at...