Pollution in China

b-lee · Nov 27, 2005

Dirty China

Beijing’s economic miracle has come at a daunting price

High in the Tienshan mountains in the westernmost region of China, pristine snowfields feed the streams that fill a famous local beauty spot known as Heavenly Lake. The crystal waters inspire even more column inches of enthusiastic brochure-ese than they might otherwise, for such enthusiasm is impossible across most of China.
The industrial revolution that has lifted 400 million Chinese, perhaps more, out of poverty in less than a generation, turning their country into the world’s dominant manufacturer and newest economic giant, has also despoiled its environment almost beyond recognition. As the water table in the north of the country drops by a metre a year, 300 leading cities are running short of water. Hundreds more choke under clouds of airborne particulates, with particularly damaging effects on children and the elderly. Every main river is heavily polluted, some to the point that their water is useless even for irrigation.

China’s vast size means its environmental challenges are necessarily shared by its neighbours. This has never been clearer than in the past week, when Beijing belatedly acknowledged that an explosion at a petrochemical plant in Jilin province had released 100 tons of carcinogenic benzene into the Songhua River. The toxin has since formed a 50-mile slick heading slowly north through the city of Harbin, where more than three million people have been without mains water since Tuesday, towards the Russian Far East.

A separate explosion yesterday at a chemical plant in the south west caused the evacuation of 10,000 people — and further clarified China’s responsibilities to its citizens and the wider world. Beijing must lend substance to Premier Hu Jintao’s recent promises of an environmentally friendly China (and a “Green” Olympic Games in 2008) by committing more resources to industrial clean-up operations and accident prevention, even at the price of slower economic growth. It must speed up the reporting of accidents, by persuading local and regional officials they have nothing to fear as purveyors of bad news. And it must break the lethal habit of obfuscating when passing on such news. The Jilin explosion took place on November 13, but in a replay of official stonewalling over the Sars outbreak two years ago and avian flu last month, no full statement was issued for ten days. This was quicker than might have been expected a decade ago. But, with international relations as well as thousands of lives at stake, it was still ten days too long.

Nor can the developed world stand idly by. Western governments and businesses have profited from low Chinese labour costs as much as China has from their investment. They must now invest for sustainable Chinese growth, not growth at any cost, backing non-governmental groups where appropriate and providing Chinese access to cutting-edge environmental technologies. Mr Hu is fond of noting that the West’s industrialisation was a dirty process. He does not have to repeat all of history ’s mistakes.
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http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,542-1891021,00.html

shinobi · Nov 28, 2005

hk is like the dirtyest place ive been to...uck..

Myolie88 · Nov 28, 2005

i love hk so much culture

mashimaro23 · Nov 28, 2005

oh.. this is sad news, i hope china can find a resolution to this problem

TvbAddict · Nov 29, 2005

would china be the most polluted place in the world? what about other countries

ijamesho · Nov 30, 2005

I think other countries are just as polluted, take India for example the population there is growing faster than China's, which means their industry has to work jsut as hard to feed all those people which means pollution's gotta be going up

sir_denster · Nov 30, 2005

Yeah, poor HK. Its pollution isn't even from HK-->it's from neighboring Guangdong!

FongFong85 · Nov 30, 2005

hmmm.. but HK has lots of pollution.. oh well

triguntf · Nov 30, 2005

I think other countries are just as polluted, take India for example the population there is growing faster than China's, which means their industry has to work jsut as hard to feed all those people which means pollution's gotta be going up due to the bad industries~

turtlebooger · Dec 23, 2005

China is trying to solve the pollution problem by planting more trees. Beijing will be a lot less polluted by 2008.

bluewater123 · Dec 24, 2005

yea, the pollution is terrible. hope that the tree planting will help

hkguy · Jan 21, 2006

too much buildings bunched together and too much technology with no nature for miles = bad.. lol

BunJai · Jan 29, 2006

pollution is a problem in every developed country!!

dmarc · Feb 7, 2006

Tell me about it! You can barely breathe the air in Xian- and it's so damn humid!

terencew · Feb 8, 2006

went to china last summer. Yea, it's pretty bad.

MoonPrince · Feb 14, 2006

I read about it in newspaper...Even in holland they write about it

adaonly · Feb 14, 2006

I believe a well planned landscaping plan would help the heavily polluted areas.

cyrus · Feb 16, 2006

China is too dirty...i prefer Australia

deadfly · Feb 18, 2006

Last summer I went to China, Hong Kong looked all foggy.

qoo · Mar 6, 2006

i went to Hong Kong last summer 2005. it was hot and stinky. i couldn't breathe and i have asthma too

Pollution in China

b-lee ǝʌıʇɔǝdsɹǝd ʇuǝɹǝɟɟıp ɐ

shinobi PA ='(

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