In the “coal province” of Shanxi, residents grapple with tensions between caring for their families and caring about their environment. In creating ethical pathways through care, residents must navigate the paradox of livelihoods dependent on forms of development that endanger lives and pollute environments. This dilemma has crystallized over time, as the personal and particular demands of the present have become enmeshed with long-standing concerns over environmental degradation. Rather than characterizing family care as concrete and environmental care as abstract, acts of care in Shanxi link the reproductive crisis of the family with the reproductive crisis of the environment: the article presents instances under which the attention, empathy and recognition of care for concrete others are scaled up to the levels of ecology and planetary crisis.

在山西这个“煤炭大省” 、人们在照顾家庭和保护环境的矛盾之间挣扎。山西的民众创造性地使用“照顾”作为道德话语、然而这却令他们面对一个矛盾：他们需要发展经济以确保家庭的生计、而这些经济发展形式却威胁家人的生命并且污染当地环境。这个矛盾随着时间的推移而实现、因为个体在当下对于生计的具体需求、与长期持续而抽象的环境恶化问题交织在一起。山西民众没有简单的把照顾家庭当作具体、把爱护环境当作抽象。相反、他们的照顾行为将家庭再生产的危机与环境可持续发展的危机结合在一起。本文介绍了一些例子、这些例子表明山西民众为具体的他人提供照顾时，他们将关注、同情和对照顾的认可提升到了生态和地球危机的层次。