I was not as bemused as some who stumbled across Treehugger’s April 1st story on China’s plans to build a green city, by veteran contributor and colleague of mine, Alex Pasternack. Knowing well that wit is Pasternack’s forte, today is April Fool’s Day, and the Center for Urban Misuse does not exist, I drank in the ironic hat-tip to China’s oft-circumlocutious, and increasingly vehicle-studded, path towards sustainable development.

Upon discovering an article on China’s government website entitled “China to be Painted White to Fight Global Warming“, however, I began to feel like someone led into a backroom closet of a Chinatown alley, surrounded by Louis Vuitton and Prada bags, i.e. hard-pressed to decipher what was real and what was fake.

 internet information center, a one-stop shop for the latest in the party line, and as such hardly the place to stage a prank. That, coupled with the story’s non-descript appearance, and typically scant public demonstrations of wry humor in China, initially convinced me that the story should be taken at face value. But as I read past the title, I became less certain. …..click here to read more