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Since Ame Naess, the Norwegian philosopher advanced the terminology of “deep ecology”, it has gradually replaced the “light green” in leading the world trend, which is a significant leap forward of human understanding of the natural environment. The “deep green” no longer puts simple emphasis on “people-centered” protection of natural environment. On the contrary, it stresses that nature is a totality and the elements of the natural system influence and depend on each other. Every screw and gear of the life is important to the health and development of the nature. This is the result of natural evolution and selection. The maintenance and development of human life depends on the dynamic balance of the whole ecosystem. As a big developing country, China has become one of the major economies in the world. China lays emphasis on the “green” development, and the development of the green economy under the guidance of the thought of “deep green” is vitally important for the global promotion of sustainable development. Therefore, in the future development, we must fulfill the following tasks:

First, we should replace the material resources with the intellectual resources to some extent so as to decouple the economic development from the resource consumption and environmental pollution. Many natural resources are non-renewable in human time scales, and some renewable resources will be gradually depleted under the minimum limit of their reproduction. In the economic development of a country, the natural resources are scarce and they are the bottleneck factors restricting the economic development. In contrast to the material resources, the human intelligence, however, can be regarded as inexhaustible resources with infinite creativity and development potential. Therefore, we should replace scarce natural resources with the intellectual resources to some extent.

Second, we should vigorously develop the cycling economy. Based on the principle of reducing waste and resource consumption, reusing resources and recycling waste and harmlessly treating the resources, the resource consumption will be kept within a threshold value of reproduction of the resources, and the pollutant emissions will do within that of the natural purification so that the “Ark” of the Earth can keep its sustainable development. To develop the recycling economy in the market economy, the key economic actors are connected for the purpose for obtaining benefits, which requires the link of the symbiotic and metabolic business communities with interests. The market laws and ecological laws are equally important to develop the recycling economy.

Third, after the “baptism” of industrialization, China needs to transform the industrial and economic restructure and take the path of light development. There is no strict definition and standard for the light industrial development or “light economy”, but this kind of industries definitely have strong external radiation for their high levels of knowledge, high degree of concentration, few resource consumption and small environmental disturbance. Industries in terms of culture, creativity, finance and information belong to the category of “light economy”. The light industrial development is the only way to develop the green economy.

Fourth, we should change from the “resource-driven” mode of economic development to the “innovation-driven” mode. The economic development supported by the cheap resources will not last long and cannot be sustainable. Only driven by innovation can the economic development be sustainable. Innovation is the soul of a nation, the inexhaustible motive power for the prosperity of a country. We should explore for the internal driving force of the long-term and stable economic development through innovation of concept, technology, mechanism and system.

Fifth, in order to develop the green economy and pass to the “deep green”, we must expand the publicity and “awaken the people”. “Awakening the people” is the conclusion drawn by Dr. Sun Yat-sen with the accumulation of four decades of revolutionary experience. However, it is more important to “awaken the leadership” because the market economy to be established in China is dominated by the government, and the behavior of the government officials and leaders plays an important role in the market economy. Only when the leadership is awakened to have a full understanding of the necessity and importance of the development of green economy can they fundamentally change the decision-making to more effectively promote the green economy.

Professor Xuemin Liu, College of Resources Science and Technology, Beijing Normal University