The biggest, the best, the most, the worst - that is the new China. Where bicycle bells turned to traffic jams in 20 years. New Manhattans rose up out of the ground. Pollution smeared the sky and the rivers. The world's biggest airport, the world's largest wind farms, the world's biggest everything, as the greatest population on Earth, became "Consumers".

What the Hell happened?

Here is a book that answers. It's stuck with me, as I read Scotland's damaging fish farms will double or triple for salmon sales to China. U.S. coal exports up over 300% to China just this year. Canada selling seal meat to China. The decisions made by people in the world's largest economy may shape, or end, our future.

"As China Goes, So Goes the World. How Chinese Consumers Are Transforming Everything." That's the title from a new book by Karl Gerth. He's a fellow at Merton College, teaching modern Chinese history at Oxford University, in Britain.

Hear the full 32 minute interview, with Alex Smith of Radio Ecoshock.