While China's economic boom has greatly accelerated the devastation of its land and resources, the roots of its environmental problem stretch back centuries. Dynastic leaders consolidating territory and developing China's economy exploited the country's natural resources in ways that contributed to famines and natural disasters, writes CFR's Elizabeth Economy in The River Runs Black: The Environmental Challenge to China's Future. Moreover, China's Confucian roots helped spur policies that often promoted man's use of nature, hindering the development of a conservation ethos. "China's current environmental situation is the result not only of policy choices made today but also of attitudes, approaches, and institutions that have evolved over centuries," Economy writes