COAL PROVINCE: Inner Mongolia has become the center of the coal
industry in China--the nation that burns the most coal and, as a
result, emits the most greenhouse gases in the world Image:
HerryLawford HOHHOT, China -- It was late spring, and armed
police were barring Inner Mongolia University students from
leaving campus to protest the death of a herder run over by a
coal truck. Students amassed in towns across the province to
condemn coal companies they accused of riding roughshod over
livestock grazing land. "They wanted to go to the streets, too!"
recounted Tegusbayar, a professor of Mongolian culture. The
presence of Chinese security forces kept his students at bay,
and dampened the potential for protests to turn violent at the
end of May. The professor sipped a steaming cup of Mongolian-
style milk tea and slowed his speech. "It's a good solution in
the end," Tegusbayar said of the peaceful outcome. "But the main
issues are still there." Tegusbayar, who uses a single Mongolian
name, lives in a hoarder's