Building a conservation-oriented society is a strategic deployment made by the central government based on the basic national conditions of China's large population, relatively insufficient resources and fragile ecological environment and the current high-speed development stage. International experience shows that the level of resource conservation and environmental friendliness is closely related to the development stage. At present, the focus of building a conservation-oriented society should be to establish a conservation-oriented national economic system, take the road of intensive urbanization, and form a sustainable consumption pattern. Therefore, we should make full use of price leverage, establish and improve the system, innovate technology, promote the transformation of growth mode and structure, and strive to achieve leap-forward development.

Economical society; Save resources; Sustainable development; Since the beginning of this year, the central government has successively introduced a series of policies and measures to build a conservation-oriented society. Hu Jintao, Wen Jiabao and other central leaders made speeches frequently, expounding the significance of building a conservation-oriented society from a strategic perspective. Building a conservation-oriented society and realizing the coordinated development between man and nature are not only the internal requirements and important contents of implementing Scientific Outlook on Development and building a harmonious socialist society, but also the important premise of building a well-off society in an all-round way and sustainable development.

1. The focus of building a conservation-oriented society is the resource bottleneck of the development of production rather than consumption economy, which makes all sectors of our society deeply feel the urgency of building a conservation-oriented society. However, how to build a conservation-oriented society, first of all, we need to understand some problems, and the policies formulated will be more targeted. Saving resources can start from two aspects, one is production and the other is consumption. Saving resources from production is mainly to improve the efficiency of resource utilization in the production process, while saving resources from consumption requires people to reduce the consumption of various products. To build an economical society, which should be the focus, production or consumption? I think it is production, not consumption, because the pursuit of the improvement of consumption level is the driving force of social development. If residents are required to reduce the consumption of various products, on the other hand, it is undoubtedly advocating a "abstinence" life, which runs counter to people's desire to pursue a better life, will not be supported by the broad masses of the people, and will not meet our goal of building a modern country. From abroad, Japan has the highest resource utilization rate among developed countries and is a typical representative of a "conservation-oriented" society, but this does not exclude that Japan has more than 600 cars per thousand people. Therefore, the requirement of building a conservation-oriented society cannot be opposed to the goal of continuously improving the consumption level of residents. Of course, it is necessary to cultivate residents' awareness of saving water and electricity and encourage residents to develop the habit of saving water and electricity in their daily lives, but this belongs to the category of morality and education, which is different from the level and field of forcing residents to limit consumption through means such as taxation, credit, prices, laws and regulations. Some people say why we can't use tax and other economic means to limit the demand for big houses and large-displacement cars. Since taxes are an integral part of prices, increasing taxes on consumer goods that consume a lot of resources can definitely curb the demand for such products. However, if the market price can already reflect the scarcity of resources, consumers can naturally make rational choices from their own income level and comparison with product prices. For example, due to the recent increase in gasoline prices, relevant surveys show that many consumers think that if the price per liter exceeds 4? Will 5 yuan give up the plan to buy a car, or choose a car with small displacement? Therefore, as long as the market price mechanism is effective, there is no need for the government to intervene in price formation to affect consumption. At present, waste in production in China can be seen everywhere. The main reason is that the equipment and technology used are backward and the scale of enterprises is too small, which makes the level of energy and raw materials consumed by unit physical output in many production fields such as steel, cement, electricity, machinery and construction in China far higher than the average level of developed countries. So there is great savings potential. Therefore, building a conservation-oriented society is not only a conceptual problem, but also a material basis problem. It is necessary to forcibly scrap a batch of backward production equipment through legislation and economic means, and support enterprises to eliminate and update equipment as soon as possible by means of financial subsidies, national loan interest subsidies and accelerated depreciation. It is also necessary to strictly limit the technical level and scale level of equipment used by enterprises and vigorously advocate economies of scale.

2. Building a conservation-oriented society is an inevitable choice for China to realize modernization. Building a conservation-oriented society is an inevitable choice for China to realize modern resource conservation and environmental friendliness, which complement each other. Building a conservation-oriented society requires people to control the intensity of economic activities within the carrying capacity and environmental capacity of natural resources, so that resources can be rationally allocated and efficiently used in every link from production to consumption, so that the amount of pollutants can be minimized and the waste can be finally treated harmlessly. Saving itself is an important way to improve resource efficiency. Saving resources can reduce the negative impact on the environment in the process of production and consumption, and support the sustainable development of social economy with efficient recycling of resources; Without resource conservation, it is impossible to reduce waste emissions and is not environmentally friendly. On the other hand, protecting the environment means protecting productive forces, and improving the environment means developing productive forces; A good environment is not only the goal of development, but also an effective means to improve competitiveness.

Building a conservation-oriented society is determined by China's national conditions. China has a large population and relatively insufficient resources. The per capita possession of cultivated land, fresh water, energy, iron ore and forest is less than the world average 1/3 or 1/2. With the new round of rapid economic growth and consumption structure upgrading after the per capita income exceeds $65,438+$0,000, the contradiction between resource constraints and environmental pollution has become increasingly prominent, the efficiency of resource utilization is not high, and environmental pollution is serious, which has affected production development and people's lives. Relevant forecasts show that by 2030, the population of China will be about 654.38+0.5 billion, and 700 million tons of grain (including imports) will be needed to meet the demand. If the per capita energy consumption is 2.5 tons of standard coal, the total amount will reach about 3.8 billion tons of standard coal, and it will become the largest fossil energy consumer in the world by then. If we continue to follow the traditional development path of large-scale production, large-scale consumption and large-scale abandonment, not only the supply of resources is difficult to guarantee, but also the environmental capacity is unbearable.

I think building a conservation-oriented society needs to do the following:

1. Focus on building a conservation-oriented society. Establish an economical national economic system and form a sustainable mode of production. Emphasis should be placed on structural adjustment; Because the savings brought by structural adjustment and urbanization mode transformation are the biggest savings. Take the intensive urbanization road. Focus on the development of "compact, group-like" urban agglomerations, and develop green buildings and urban infrastructure that save land, energy, materials and water; Accelerate the construction of pollution control facilities, improve their operating efficiency, and let people have a good production and living environment.

2. Study and formulate development strategies and plans. This is an important guarantee for a unified understanding and a consistent pace. To achieve the goal of a conservation-oriented society, we need reasonable institutional arrangements, correct policy incentives and regulations, effective management system and operation mechanism, applicable technical support and necessary financial support, which need to be implemented through development planning and promoted through comprehensive reforms and supporting measures. 3. Improve the institutional arrangements of the conservation-oriented society. Institutional arrangement is an important guarantee for building a conservation-oriented society. Establish and improve the laws and regulations system of resource conservation and environmental protection, establish and improve the policy system of combining economic incentives with administrative compulsion, and formulate and implement the mandatory standard system of resource and energy consumption or efficiency of industries and products. At present, priority should be given to formulating or improving resource pricing mechanism, resource and environmental performance standards and labeling system, market access system for industries and products with high energy consumption, high material consumption and high pollution, extended producer responsibility system and green procurement system.

4. Strengthen publicity and education to form a benign interaction mechanism among government, enterprises and society. Establishing the partnership among government, enterprises and society is also a countermeasure for countries all over the world to solve the problems of resources and environment. Countries should first clarify the responsibilities and obligations of the government, enterprises and society, and form an effective partnership and a benign governance structure; Give full play to the enthusiasm of all sectors of society and let the public participate in the whole process of decision-making, management and supervision; Establish an information exchange platform, give full play to the role of various industry associations and non-governmental organizations, and work together to improve the efficiency of resource utilization and protect the environment.

In addition, education on national conditions should be widely carried out to enhance the awareness of the whole society, especially leading cadres and primary and secondary school students at all levels, as well as the sense of responsibility for saving resources and protecting the environment.

Reference 1. China's population, resources and environment; In 2006

2. Chen Xin's Analysis of Consumption Ethics in an Economical Society, Shanghai Comprehensive Economy, 2004.