Abstract:This book is an annual endeavor to review China’s environment from a collective of environment professionals and most notably with the views under the non-government lens. It dedicates to reflecting lessons learned，worthwhile experiences during the past year，and formulating expectations and recommendations for policy changes for the years to come. And the last but not the least，it also serves as the significant witness or chronology of China’s environmentalism. The task of this chapter is to give an overview of the unfolding chapters as well as other burning issues that are outside the scope of all authors yet cry for some brief introductions.Distinguishing between intention and reality is the key to a fair assessment of China’s 2015 environmental achievements. Too often，intentions are expressed loudly and clearly，whereas results are muddled and messy. A look at the country’s environmental scorecard this year will show that while well-intentioned policy declarations are not always “empty words”，it takes calculated and strategic efforts to translate them into actual progress. While some positive changes are in motion，we hope to hold conditional rather than complacent optimism towards the so-called “new normal” under the blueprint of the “ecological civilization”.Variables responsible for rising environmental challenges are multi-layered and multifaceted；it is unthinkable to strive for solutions that treat ecological and environmental problems in isolation from its complex context. Therefore，the society and its government’s new blueprint ought to seek to “stitch” those indispensable fabric together，namely a fair and equitable social system，political system and economic system that are indeed nestled in China’s current state of analysis. Without those essential fabrics，most efforts will only tread on lopsided and technical solutions. Such stake is even higher when the threshold from the Holocene to the Anthropocene is about to be bleached.
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