Cutting the carbon

Children learn about wind power by watching a simulated sailing ship movement at the Hangzhou Low Carbon Science and Technology Museum. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Aboard the little train, schoolchildren scream as tsunamis crash down on the city, food-producing fields are turned into desert, fires destroy pristine forest, iconic animals become extinct, and a poisonous haze causes people to choke and planes to drop from the sky. Finally, as the icecaps melt, a vast wall of water rushes towards me, I hold my breath－then take off my glasses.

Along with a number of shrieking schoolchildren, I have just glimpsed the future through 3-D glasses－and it's a scary sight. I'm in the Global Warming section on the second floor of one of China's few low-carbon themed facilities, the Hangzhou Low Carbon Science and Technology Museum, experiencing the perils of global warming and what might happen unless we take better care of the planet.

Floods, fires and famine－all are likely to increase unless we change our ways. It's probably no coincidence the entire building is shaped like a huge boat, petering from a wide roof to a narrow base－except if the great flood ever did return, even boarding Noah's Ark wouldn't save us.

"The design reduces the building's exposure to sunlight and naturally brings down room temperature, so energy use for air conditioning could be brought down," says Ji Jinghang, head of the museum. "The bright light from the round ceiling lamp is actually natural sunlight reflected through a special arrangement of mirrors."