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Post by Gregory Hewett on Sept 4, 2007 8:00:02 GMT 5.5
August 26, 2007
As China Roars, Pollution Reaches Deadly Extremes By JOSEPH KAHN and JIM YARDLEY
BEIJING, Aug. 25 — No country in history has emerged as a major industrial power without creating a legacy of environmental damage that can take decades and big dollops of public wealth to undo.
But just as the speed and scale of China’s rise as an economic power have no clear parallel in history, so its pollution problem has shattered all precedents. Environmental degradation is now so severe, with such stark domestic and international repercussions, that pollution poses not only a major long-term burden on the Chinese public but also an acute political challenge to the ruling Communist Party. And it is not clear that China can rein in its own economic juggernaut.
Public health is reeling. Pollution has made cancer China’s leading cause of death, the Ministry of Health says. Ambient air pollution alone is blamed for hundreds of thousands of deaths each year. Nearly 500 million people lack access to safe drinking water.
Chinese cities often seem wrapped in a toxic gray shroud. Only 1 percent of the country’s 560 million city dwellers breathe air considered safe by the European Union. Beijing is frantically searching for a magic formula, a meteorological deus ex machina, to clear its skies for the 2008 Olympics.
Environmental woes that might be considered catastrophic in some countries can seem commonplace in China: industrial cities where people rarely see the sun; children killed or sickened by lead poisoning or other types of local pollution; a coastline so swamped by algal red tides that large sections of the ocean no longer sustain marine life.
China is choking on its own success. The economy is on a historic run, posting a succession of double-digit growth rates. But the growth derives, now more than at any time in the recent past, from a staggering expansion of heavy industry and urbanization that requires colossal inputs of energy, almost all from coal, the most readily available, and dirtiest, source.
“It is a very awkward situation for the country because our greatest achievement is also our biggest burden,” says Wang Jinnan, one of China’s leading environmental researchers. “There is pressure for change, but many people refuse to accept that we need a new approach so soon.”
China’s problem has become the world’s problem. Sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides spewed by China’s coal-fired power plants fall as acid rain on Seoul, South Korea, and Tokyo. Much of the particulate pollution over Los Angeles originates in China, according to the Journal of Geophysical Research.
More pressing still, China has entered the most robust stage of its industrial revolution, even as much of the outside world has become preoccupied with global warming.
Experts once thought China might overtake the United States as the world’s leading producer of greenhouse gases by 2010, possibly later. Now, the International Energy Agency has said China could become the emissions leader by the end of this year, and the Netherlands Environment Assessment Agency said China had already passed that level.
For the Communist Party, the political calculus is daunting. Reining in economic growth to alleviate pollution may seem logical, but the country’s authoritarian system is addicted to fast growth. Delivering prosperity placates the public, provides spoils for well-connected officials and forestalls demands for political change. A major slowdown could incite social unrest, alienate business interests and threaten the party’s rule.
But pollution poses its own threat. Officials blame fetid air and water for thousands of episodes of social unrest. Health care costs have climbed sharply. Severe water shortages could turn more farmland into desert. And the unconstrained expansion of energy-intensive industries creates greater dependence on imported oil and dirty coal, meaning that environmental problems get harder and more expensive to address the longer they are unresolved.
China’s leaders recognize that they must change course. They are vowing to overhaul the growth-first philosophy of the Deng Xiaoping era and embrace a new model that allows for steady growth while protecting the environment. In his equivalent of a State of the Union address this year, Prime Minister Wen Jiabao made 48 references to “environment,” “pollution” or “environmental protection.”
The government has numerical targets for reducing emissions and conserving energy. Export subsidies for polluting industries have been phased out. Different campaigns have been started to close illegal coal mines and shutter some heavily polluting factories. Major initiatives are under way to develop clean energy sources like solar and wind power. And environmental regulation in Beijing, Shanghai and other leading cities has been tightened ahead of the 2008 Olympics.
Yet most of the government’s targets for energy efficiency, as well as improving air and water quality, have gone unmet. And there are ample signs that the leadership is either unwilling or unable to make fundamental changes.
Land, water, electricity, oil and bank loans remain relatively inexpensive, even for heavy polluters. Beijing has declined to use the kind of tax policies and market-oriented incentives for conservation that have worked well in Japan and many European countries.
Provincial officials, who enjoy substantial autonomy, often ignore environmental edicts, helping to reopen mines or factories closed by central authorities. Over all, enforcement is often tinged with corruption. This spring, officials in Yunnan Province in southern China beautified Laoshou Mountain, which had been used as a quarry, by spraying green paint over acres of rock.
President Hu Jintao’s most ambitious attempt to change the culture of fast-growth collapsed this year. The project, known as “Green G.D.P.,” was an effort to create an environmental yardstick for evaluating the performance of every official in China. It recalculated gross domestic product, or G.D.P., to reflect the cost of pollution.
But the early results were so sobering — in some provinces the pollution-adjusted growth rates were reduced almost to zero — that the project was banished to China’s ivory tower this spring and stripped of official influence.
Chinese leaders argue that the outside world is a partner in degrading the country’s environment. Chinese manufacturers that dump waste into rivers or pump smoke into the sky make the cheap products that fill stores in the United States and Europe. Often, these manufacturers subcontract for foreign companies — or are owned by them. In fact, foreign investment continues to rise as multinational corporations build more factories in China. Beijing also insists that it will accept no mandatory limits on its carbon dioxide emissions, which would almost certainly reduce its industrial growth. It argues that rich countries caused global warming and should find a way to solve it without impinging on China’s development.
Indeed, Britain, the United States and Japan polluted their way to prosperity and worried about environmental damage only after their economies matured and their urban middle classes demanded blue skies and safe drinking water.
But China is more like a teenage smoker with emphysema. The costs of pollution have mounted well before it is ready to curtail economic development. But the price of business as usual — including the predicted effects of global warming on China itself — strikes many of its own experts and some senior officials as intolerably high.
“Typically, industrial countries deal with green problems when they are rich,” said Ren Yong, a climate expert at the Center for Environment and Economy in Beijing. “We have to deal with them while we are still poor. There is no model for us to follow.”
In the face of past challenges, the Communist Party has usually responded with sweeping edicts from Beijing. Some environmentalists say they hope the top leadership has now made pollution control such a high priority that lower level officials will have no choice but to go along, just as Deng Xiaoping once forced China’s sluggish bureaucracy to fixate on growth.
But the environment may end up posing a different political challenge. A command-and-control political culture accustomed to issuing thundering directives is now under pressure, even from people in the ruling party, to submit to oversight from the public, for which pollution has become a daily — and increasingly deadly — reality.
Perpetual Haze
During the three decades since Deng set China on a course toward market-style growth, rapid industrialization and urbanization have lifted hundreds of millions of Chinese out of poverty and made the country the world’s largest producer of consumer goods. But there is little question that growth came at the expense of the country’s air, land and water, much of it already degraded by decades of Stalinist economic planning that emphasized the development of heavy industries in urban areas.
For air quality, a major culprit is coal, on which China relies for about two-thirds of its energy needs. It has abundant supplies of coal and already burns more of it than the United States, Europe and Japan combined. But even many of its newest coal-fired power plants and industrial furnaces operate inefficiently and use pollution controls considered inadequate in the West.
Expanding car ownership, heavy traffic and low-grade gasoline have made autos the leading source of air pollution in major Chinese cities. Only 1 percent of China’s urban population of 560 million now breathes air considered safe by the European Union, according to a World Bank study of Chinese pollution published this year. One major pollutant contributing to China’s bad air is particulate matter, which includes concentrations of fine dust, soot and aerosol particles less than 10 microns in diameter (known as PM 10).
The level of such particulates is measured in micrograms per cubic meter of air. The European Union stipulates that any reading above 40 micrograms is unsafe. The United States allows 50. In 2006, Beijing’s average PM 10 level was 141, according to the Chinese National Bureau of Statistics. Only Cairo, among world capitals, had worse air quality as measured by particulates, according to the World Bank.
Emissions of sulfur dioxide from coal and fuel oil, which can cause respiratory and cardiovascular diseases as well as acid rain, are increasing even faster than China’s economic growth. In 2005, China became the leading source of sulfur dioxide pollution globally, the State Environmental Protection Administration, or SEPA, reported last year.
Other major air pollutants, including ozone, an important component of smog, and smaller particulate matter, called PM 2.5, emitted when gasoline is burned, are not widely monitored in China. Medical experts in China and in the West have argued that PM 2.5 causes more chronic diseases of the lung and heart than the more widely watched PM 10.
Perhaps an even more acute challenge is water. China has only one-fifth as much water per capita as the United States. But while southern China is relatively wet, the north, home to about half of China’s population, is an immense, parched region that now threatens to become the world’s biggest desert.
Farmers in the north once used shovels to dig their wells. Now, many aquifers have been so depleted that some wells in Beijing and Hebei must extend more than half a mile before they reach fresh water. Industry and agriculture use nearly all of the flow of the Yellow River, before it reaches the Bohai Sea.
In response, Chinese leaders have undertaken one of the most ambitious engineering projects in world history, a $60 billion network of canals, rivers and lakes to transport water from the flood-prone Yangtze River to the silt-choked Yellow River. But that effort, if successful, will still leave the north chronically thirsty.
This scarcity has not yet created a culture of conservation. Water remains inexpensive by global standards, and Chinese industry uses 4 to 10 times more water per unit of production than the average in industrialized nations, according to the World Bank.
In many parts of China, factories and farms dump waste into surface water with few repercussions. China’s environmental monitors say that one-third of all river water, and vast sections of China’s great lakes, the Tai, Chao and Dianchi, have water rated Grade V, the most degraded level, rendering it unfit for industrial or agricultural use.
Grim Statistics
The toll this pollution has taken on human health remains a delicate topic in China. The leadership has banned publication of data on the subject for fear of inciting social unrest, said scholars involved in the research. But the results of some research provide alarming evidence that the environment has become one of the biggest causes of death.
An internal, unpublicized report by the Chinese Academy of Environmental Planning in 2003 estimated that 300,000 people die each year from ambient air pollution, mostly of heart disease and lung cancer. An additional 110,000 deaths could be attributed to indoor air pollution caused by poorly ventilated coal and wood stoves or toxic fumes from shoddy construction materials, said a person involved in that study.
Another report, prepared in 2005 by Chinese environmental experts, estimated that annual premature deaths attributable to outdoor air pollution were likely to reach 380,000 in 2010 and 550,000 in 2020.
This spring, a World Bank study done with SEPA, the national environmental agency, concluded that outdoor air pollution was already causing 350,000 to 400,000 premature deaths a year. Indoor pollution contributed to the deaths of an additional 300,000 people, while 60,000 died from diarrhea, bladder and stomach cancer and other diseases that can be caused by water-borne pollution.
China’s environmental agency insisted that the health statistics be removed from the published version of the report, citing the possible impact on “social stability,” World Bank officials said.
But other international organizations with access to Chinese data have published similar results. For example, the World Health Organization found that China suffered more deaths from water-related pollutants and fewer from bad air, but agreed with the World Bank that the total death toll had reached 750,000 a year. In comparison, 4,700 people died last year in China’s notoriously unsafe mines, and 89,000 people were killed in road accidents, the highest number of automobile-related deaths in the world. The Ministry of Health estimates that cigarette smoking takes a million Chinese lives each year.
Studies of Chinese environmental health mostly use statistical models developed in the United States and Europe and apply them to China, which has done little long-term research on the matter domestically. The results are more like plausible suppositions than conclusive findings.
But Chinese experts say that, if anything, the Western models probably understate the problems.
“China’s pollution is worse, the density of its population is greater and people do not protect themselves as well,” said Jin Yinlong, the director general of the Institute for Environmental Health and Related Product Safety in Beijing. “So the studies are not definitive. I disagreeumption is that they will turn out to be conservative.”
Growth Run Amok
As gloomy as China’s pollution picture looks today, it is set to get significantly worse, because China has come to rely mainly on energy-intensive heavy industry and urbanization to fuel economic growth. In 2000, a team of economists and energy specialists at the Development Research Center, part of the State Council, set out to gauge how much energy China would need over the ensuing 20 years to achieve the leadership’s goal of quadrupling the size of the economy.
They based their projections on China’s experience during the first 20 years of economic reform, from 1980 to 2000. In that period, China relied mainly on light industry and small-scale private enterprise to spur growth. It made big improvements in energy efficiency even as the economy expanded rapidly. Gross domestic product quadrupled, while energy use only doubled.
The team projected that such efficiency gains would probably continue. But the experts also offered what they called a worst-case situation in which the most energy-hungry parts of the economy grew faster and efficiency gains fell short.
That worst-case situation now looks wildly optimistic. Last year, China burned the energy equivalent of 2.7 billion tons of coal, three-quarters of what the experts had said would be the maximum required in 2020. To put it another way, China now seems likely to need as much energy in 2010 as it thought it would need in 2020 under the most pessimistic assumptions.
“No one really knew what was driving the economy, which is why the predictions were so wrong,” said Yang Fuqiang, a former Chinese energy planner who is now the chief China representative of the Energy Foundation, an American group that supports energy-related research. “What I fear is that the trend is now basically irreversible.”
The ravenous appetite for fossil fuels traces partly to an economic stimulus program in 1997. The leadership, worried that China’s economy would fall into a steep recession as its East Asian neighbors had, provided generous state financing and tax incentives to support industrialization on a grand scale.
It worked well, possibly too well. In 1996, China and the United States each accounted for 13 percent of global steel production. By 2005, the United States share had dropped to 8 percent, while China’s share had risen to 35 percent, according to a study by Daniel H. Rosen and Trevor Houser of China Strategic Advisory, a group that analyzes the Chinese economy.
Similarly, China now makes half of the world’s cement and flat glass, and about a third of its aluminum. In 2006, China overtook Japan as the second-largest producer of cars and trucks after the United States.
Its energy needs are compounded because even some of its newest heavy industry plants do not operate as efficiently, or control pollution as effectively, as factories in other parts of the world, a recent World Bank report said.
Chinese steel makers, on average, use one-fifth more energy per ton than the international average. Cement manufacturers need 45 percent more power, and ethylene producers need 70 percent more than producers elsewhere, the World Bank says.
China’s aluminum industry alone consumes as much energy as the country’s commercial sector — all the hotels, restaurants, banks and shopping malls combined, Mr. Rosen and Mr. Houser reported.
Moreover, the boom is not limited to heavy industry. Each year for the past few years, China has built about 7.5 billion square feet of commercial and residential space, more than the combined floor space of all the malls and strip malls in the United States, according to data collected by the United States Energy Information Administration.
Chinese buildings rarely have thermal insulation. They require, on average, twice as much energy to heat and cool as those in similar climates in the United States and Europe, according to the World Bank. A vast majority of new buildings — 95 percent, the bank says — do not meet China’s own codes for energy efficiency.
All these new buildings require China to build power plants, which it has been doing prodigiously. In 2005 alone, China added 66 gigawatts of electricity to its power grid, about as much power as Britain generates in a year. Last year, it added an additional 102 gigawatts, as much as France.
That increase has come almost entirely from small- and medium-size coal-fired power plants that were built quickly and inexpensively. Only a few of them use modern, combined-cycle turbines, which increase efficiency, said Noureddine Berrah, an energy expert at the World Bank. He said Beijing had so far declined to use the most advanced type of combined-cycle turbines despite having completed a successful pilot project nearly a decade ago.
While over the long term, combined-cycle plants save money and reduce pollution, Mr. Berrah said, they cost more — and take longer — to build. For that reason, he said, central and provincial government officials prefer older technology.
“China is making decisions today that will affect its energy use for the next 30 or 40 years,” he said. “Unfortunately, in some parts of the government the thinking is much more shortsighted.”
The Politics of Pollution
Since Hu Jintao became the Communist Party chief in 2002 and Wen Jiabao became prime minister the next spring, China’s leadership has struck consistent themes. The economy must grow at a more sustainable, less bubbly pace. Environmental abuse has reached intolerable levels. Officials who ignore these principles will be called to account.
Five years later, it seems clear that these senior leaders are either too timid to enforce their orders, or the fast-growth political culture they preside over is too entrenched to heed them.
In the second quarter of this year, the economy expanded at a neck-snapping pace of 11.9 percent, its fastest in a decade. State-driven investment projects, state-backed heavy industry and a thriving export sector led the way. China burned 18 percent more coal than it did the year before.
China’s authoritarian system has repeatedly proved its ability to suppress political threats to Communist Party rule. But its failure to realize its avowed goals of balancing economic growth and environmental protection is a sign that the country’s environmental problems are at least partly systemic, many experts and some government officials say. China cannot go green, in other words, without political change.
In their efforts to free China of its socialist shackles in the 1980s and early 90s, Deng and his supporters gave lower-level officials the leeway, and the obligation, to increase economic growth.
Local party bosses gained broad powers over state bank lending, taxes, regulation and land use. In return, the party leadership graded them, first and foremost, on how much they expanded the economy in their domains.
(Continued below.)
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Post by Gregory Hewett on Sept 4, 2007 8:00:46 GMT 5.5
("As China Roars, Pollution Reaches Deadly Extremes," continued from above.)
To judge by its original goals — stimulating the economy, creating jobs and keeping the Communist Party in power — the system Deng put in place has few equals. But his approach eroded Beijing’s ability to fine-tune the economy. Today, a culture of collusion between government and business has made all but the most pro-growth government policies hard to enforce.
“The main reason behind the continued deterioration of the environment is a mistaken view of what counts as political achievement,” said Pan Yue, the deputy minister of the State Environmental Protection Administration. “The crazy expansion of high-polluting, high-energy industries has spawned special interests. Protected by local governments, some businesses treat the natural resources that belong to all the people as their own private property.”
Mr. Hu has tried to change the system. In an internal address in 2004, he endorsed “comprehensive environmental and economic accounting” — otherwise known as “Green G.D.P.” He said the “pioneering endeavor” would produce a new performance test for government and party officials that better reflected the leadership’s environmental priorities.
The Green G.D.P. team sought to calculate the yearly damage to the environment and human health in each province. Their first report, released last year, estimated that pollution in 2004 cost just over 3 percent of the gross domestic product, meaning that the pollution-adjusted growth rate that year would drop to about 7 percent from 10 percent. Officials said at the time that their formula used low estimates of environmental damage to health and did not assess the impact on China’s ecology. They would produce a more decisive formula, they said, the next year.
That did not happen. Mr. Hu’s plan died amid intense squabbling, people involved in the effort said. The Green G.D.P. group’s second report, originally scheduled for release in March, never materialized.
The official explanation was that the science behind the green index was immature. Wang Jinnan, the leading academic researcher on the Green G.D.P. team, said provincial leaders killed the project. “Officials do not like to be lined up and told how they are not meeting the leadership’s goals,” he said. “They found it difficult to accept this.”
Conflicting Pressures
Despite the demise of Green G.D.P., party leaders insist that they intend to restrain runaway energy use and emissions. The government last year mandated that the country use 20 percent less energy to achieve the same level of economic activity in 2010 compared with 2005. It also required that total emissions of mercury, sulfur dioxide and other pollutants decline by 10 percent in the same period.
The program is a domestic imperative. But it has also become China’s main response to growing international pressure to combat global warming. Chinese leaders reject mandatory emissions caps, and they say the energy efficiency plan will slow growth in carbon dioxide emissions.
Even with the heavy pressure, though, the efficiency goals have been hard to achieve. In the first full year since the targets were set, emissions increased. Energy use for every dollar of economic output fell but by much less than the 4 percent interim goal.
In a public relations sense, the party’s commitment to conservation seems steadfast. Mr. Hu shunned his usual coat and tie at a meeting of the Central Committee this summer. State news media said the temperature in the Great Hall of the People was set at a balmy 79 degrees Fahrenheit to save energy, and officials have encouraged others to set thermostats at the same level.
By other measures, though, the leadership has moved slowly to address environmental and energy concerns.
The government rarely uses market-oriented incentives to reduce pollution. Officials have rejected proposals to introduce surcharges on electricity and coal to reflect the true cost to the environment. The state still controls the price of fuel oil, including gasoline, subsidizing the cost of driving.
Energy and environmental officials have little influence in the bureaucracy. The environmental agency still has only about 200 full-time employees, compared with 18,000 at the Environmental Protection Agency in the United States.
China has no Energy Ministry. The Energy Bureau of the National Development and Reform Commission, the country’s central planning agency, has 100 full-time staff members. The Energy Department of the United States has 110,000 employees.
China does have an army of amateur regulators. Environmentalists expose pollution and press local government officials to enforce environmental laws. But private individuals and nongovernment organizations cannot cross the line between advocacy and political agitation without risking arrest.
At least two leading environmental organizers have been prosecuted in recent weeks, and several others have received sharp warnings to tone down their criticism of local officials. One reason the authorities have cited: the need for social stability before the 2008 Olympics, once viewed as an opportunity for China to improve the environment.
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Post by rahel on Sept 8, 2007 21:12:54 GMT 5.5
China known as one of the fastest developing countries in the world is currently having huge trouble due to pollution. It is unbelievable and very unexpected that China of all the developing countries is facing trouble. As i read this article it stunned me because i never realized that such a fast developing country as China could be facing this kind of problem. But as i thought about it deeply it hit me that it is actually not as much as a shock as we all think. So many people shift to China because it is one of the cheapest countries. Many foreigners come to China to bulid up their factories because water and the other matirials are farely cheap there compared to the other countries. The chinese don't say no to these people because they need all the money they can get. But what is also happening is that as these foreigners go in to China many chinese go out because they get poorely paied. These chinese the go for example to Africa and then send their money back to their families. But because of all these industries being bulid and also due to the population growing day by day a lot of energy is being used up. China is a big country and I had never expected that they would ever have population problem. But as i have learned half of China is a desert and not many people would want to live their.
Now you kind of understand why it is not such a big shock for me. What I think China should do is to lessen their industries and they should stop foreigners from coming in because due to the population to many cars are being driven and that also leads to pollution. I think that China had never expected such a problem to arise as it was going very fluently for them. But they soon have to take steps in not making the matter to worse. If they take to long in taking some steps then it will affect their neihbouring countries as well and that could be a huge problem. The pollution has already started spreading so countries not only China have to get alert.
My opinion is that if China would go back a little like put some industries away and only have a limited amout of people in an area then they could have a little better chances. Their are so many deaths happening and soon people are going to complain about that. Its a huge loss for the people. Nobody had really ever accpected such a problem to arise. But now it has so steps have to be taken before it becomes worse. Due to such a problem a war could also arise because other countries can complain because of this spread of death and that could lead to a fight. But lets hope such things will not happen and that the country can still be saved before it becomes a desert. But as you have noticed all countries at one point or the other have pollution problems even the big countries have them before they really get developed. What i think is that it is like a test for the country and if they pass then they are ready to be developed. But that is what i think it may not even be right but it just sounds like it. Eventhough lets hope for the best mostly to china but also the other countries.
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Post by divya on Sept 9, 2007 12:01:13 GMT 5.5
In China, the pollution level is increasing at an alarming rate day by day and it is creeping up on the public silently but surely. But how current is this current event? Pollution cannot just build up so quickly in one day or week and then we are notified of it. No. It has been building up for many years now and is the byproduct of the large population. So what makes the writer publish this article and bring it to the public's attention now instead of serveral years ago? The answer is the technology boom.
As we have read in our text book, China and India were advanced for their time period before colonization. They had some technology and were extremely knowledgeable in the fields of science, math, and astronomy. But after other factors came into play such as better technology, government systems, and luck, the western civilzations got the advantage and went ahead in the global race. After so many years later, China and India are rapidly getting the upperhand worldwide with the cheap labor and new jobs. This is all new to them and this article is an example of how China is dealing with the change.
Now to analyze the main pollution issue in China will be hard. When one thinks about the pollution that is in China, they immediately look down upon the country, telling them to stop using so many fossil fuels and etc. But this article brings up some debatable points. The fact that all the businesses are setting up factories in China and doing all their labor there obviously makes the CO2 output much more than in any other country. Who suffers from the increased business? THe locals and the country of China. THat is a valid point to make because that is something that is unfair to the people and everyone is complaining to them but how can they avoid their emissions or decreased them if more and more business are being outsourced to their country? Whether or not that is fair to them is a point that has two sides because the economy in China has flourished because of the increased business. So they have to give up one of the two, business or cleanliness.
But under the circumstances, the government has to do something about the problem and they have made many goals in order to reduce the gases that are being emmited and help thei nation. There are many incentives for the governement to carry out these plans and one of them has to do with the 2008 Olympics. The dates for the Olympics are coming soon and it is putting pressure on the government of China to improve their country fast and effectively. People are already complaining about their fears with the quality of food and living standards when they are there and the government is trying to make changes. But the government has rejected a lot of environmental plans already because of factors such as cost and the sad thing is that the government barely has any time left because things cannot happen overnight.
One problem in China is the lack of rights the public has and the when environmental riots break out, there are many risks of arrest that are present and it discourages the public to participate in any of these riots that could actually help the country. China can implement change quickly because they have shown they can make the most of rapid change, as they have with the increased incoming of jobs. They may not be the only one responsible for the downfall of the environment but in the end it is their country and they need to care. It is like when children are playing, they have to clean up the mess afterwards. The fun has been had and now you need to clean up after yourselves. In the end, the environment is where you live and what has the most impact on you in terms of your health. What is the use of having a great job if you have terminal cancer caused by something you coudl have helped?
If the government ignores the public and the people and just continues to make plans that may or may not get carried out, it will have the same effect as giving a bandaid to a man having a heart attack. Change needs to be made and fast.
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Post by rikke on Sept 9, 2007 14:38:59 GMT 5.5
My opinion to this current event is that I think the Chinese people use to much bad stuff. Like for example many people died, because of the bad water condition there where, and because almost all people is drinking non safe drinking water. I think they should solve there problems they have with the pollution. Because it effects so many people, and many people died because of the high pollution, and that is really sad to not life in a healthy country, (or sort of healthy country, but they doesn’t) We all know that it is the fasted developing country; they use a lot of technology and all kinds off stuff. Make a lot of things, but they have trouble with things also. Like I already said they have too much problems with the pollution. They use too much, and in the wrong way. Like maybe it’s they way they produce things, cars and other things. The factory might not be a reason to the high pollution, and other problems they have.
A brief summery of the current event: This current event is basically about China, the pollution, and their big problems they have. To many die, because of they bad water there aren’t safe to drink, because of the air pollution, people can’t breath properly- And in this current event they talk about how to change it, and if they don’t change how many people there are going to die in the future per year. And they talk about how many people there died they few year past. But they also are relating China’s pollution to United States, and Europe to see what the different are. It’s actually an interesting current event, but also sad, because it effects a lot to the people in China, but also to the world, because it spreads in the air. The current event is also about the environment in China, and they government and what they try to do to stop it, or to make it less.
Facts of this current event are: -Pollution made cancer in China, cause of death. - Only 1 percent of China’s 560 millions cities are considered that the breathing air is safe, the rest are not. - Drinking water is not safe. - Other types of pollution killed children. -China’s problems became the world’s problem. - A lot of global warming - China might be the worlds leading producer of greenhouses gases in 2010 instead of United States. - But they changed that; now they think it will happen by the end of this year. - Turn farmland into desert. - Problems get harder to solve when they wait to solve it. - China’s leaders saw that they had to make a change. - Land, water, electricity, oil and bank remain real inexpensive. - China’s manufactories was waste into rivers or if not that smoke into the sky. - Bigger car pollution. - World’s biggest desert.- Problems with the rivers, too much pollution (yellow river). - Factories and farms put waste into the surface of the water. - In 2003, 300,000 people died, because of air pollution. - If they don’t do anything in 2010 380,000 people will die, and in 2020 550,000 will die. - Last year, China burn energy of 2.7 billion tons of coal. - United Stated dropped 8 percent, but China had raised 35 percent. - 2006 China took over Japans car producing, and became the second biggest in the world after United States. -102 gigawatts. - try to stop it, and talked a little about how to (the government).
Questions: Why did they even go too far with they pollution? Why didn’t they think from the beginning? Did any of the Chinese people move to other countries, away from the high pollution, that courses that many people died? Why didn’t they do things in a different way? Build the factories in a different way, so if wouldn’t course that much pollution. Will it ever stop?
Sometimes in the future I think it will be normal, and people won’t die, and there will be safe air, and drinking water, but I think it will go very slowly, because today almost all they things are working with course high pollution, so to get that down so low will take a long time. But maybe not, maybe it will be the same mess, and higher amount of people there die, and that the pollution will effect the all world, but the best thing would be if they try to change it now.
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Post by arpitav on Sept 9, 2007 15:15:56 GMT 5.5
The pollution rate in China has been and still is increasing at a startling rate every day. Why hasn’t anyone brought this to the public’s attention? Why now? Why not before it became this bad? The reason is the rapid development of new technology.
In our textbook it says that India and China were pretty advanced for that time period. They had enough technology and were skilled in science, math, and astronomy. However, better technology, advanced government systems, and some good fortune the western civilizations got a head start. Today, cheap labor and new jobs has helped China and India progress. Since this progress is so new the Chinese and Indian governments don’t know how to handle it. This article explains one of the ways the Chinese government is dealing with it.
Usually, when people reflect upon China’s pollution, they instantly look down on the country and start shouting at them to stop the usage of several fossil fuels, etc., etc., etc. However, with all the new businesses that are putting their factories in China as well as doing all the labor there, no wonder the CO² output is so high. It’s so high that it’s more than any other country! Now through all of this, who gets the short end of the stick? The locals and the country of China itself do. This is a crucial point because it is so unfair to the people. How are they supposed to avoid emissions and decrease them if more businesses keep coming in? Although, fair or not this argument has two sides; because of the new and increased business the economy has progressed. It’s either a good economy or a healthy atmosphere around them.
The government has many motives for trying to reduce the emissions. One of them is the upcoming 2008 Olympics. Some of the events may have to be canceled because of the amount of pollution in the air. There is a dense fog over the city of Beijing. People living there are complaining about the quality of food and the living standards. The government is trying to make changes. Because of the cost the government has turned down several environmental plans. The government is running out of time though because nothing will change overnight.
The public does not have many rights. Arrests are made when environmental riots break out. This discourages the public which make the government turn a blind eye. China has shown their ability to make changes quickly because of the increased incoming of jobs. Sure, it’s not entirely their fault for the collapse in the environment but it is their country and they are living there. The environment has the most impact on your health.
The government has to stop ignoring the public because changes have to be made and promptly!
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Post by eunjucho on Sept 9, 2007 16:01:40 GMT 5.5
Apparently, this is a big issue these days. This article is about China going through a hard time while they are still trying to develop their country. China is growing really fast, in fact it is fastest growing country. It is good that they are growing so fast because that means less people are going to suffer from hunger but there are numerous problems.
The reason why China could develop so fast is probably because they have countless numbers of factories from other countries and for themselves. That is causing problems because factories are using up so much energy and they are polluting the environment. Also, all the wastes and chemicals from factories are thrown out by the river which pollutes the water.
For industries to run, they need energy. They make energy by using coals. That means Chinese are using up huge amount of coal. According to this article, China used 2.7 billion tons of coals last year. The experts had said that it is three quarters of the amount that Chinese are required to use in 2020 maximum. It would not be a problem if they stop using so much energy but I do not think they can to anything about it. Anyway, this article says that some factories even use more energy than all the restaurants, hotels, and other buildings in China are using altogether. Using up coals is bad for Chinese because that means that they are breathing polluted air. This not only China¡¯s problem but it is worldly, too because China is causing acid rain in Korea and Japan. Other pollution even affects as far as America according to this article.
China is also having water shortage because factories are throwing wastes and bad chemicals to the river. Even if they are working on this project about this it is hard.
This is also causing health problems to Chinese. According to this article, only one percent of people in who live in urban cities in China are breathing air that is considered safe by the European Union. People are having some kind of lung or heart diseases. They even get cancer. Chinese are even dying because of the pollution.
Of course, Chinese government is trying to solve these serious problems that the factories and their country are causing in order to success but quite a lot of people do not seem to help to solve these problems and they only seem to focus on their growths. But I do not understand why they are avoiding working on these problems because it will be hard for them to develop their country if they have so many problems to solve and so many things to work on for their environment and other things. Won¡¯t they have to use so much money on that? It will be all the same again.
Other developed countries are blaming China for polluting the earth, using so much of energy, coals, and things that affects ozone layer to break, water problems and other environmental problems. I think that is kind of unfair for them to say that because that is what they did when they were becoming industrialized and developing. Of course China is using up various bad things and causing so much problems but I think it seems like they are using extra more things because it is a big country and is very populated. Also, developed countries should help them, too if they are so worried about pollution instead of blaming all for Chinese. Why can¡¯t they? It will be like helping our earth to become healthy again. In my opinion, blaming might cause more conflicts or fighting between other countries and become really serious. I think helping China will really help a lot. Also, I think it is good that they are having 2008 Olympics in China because they will at least try harder to make their country clean.
When I was reading this article, I could not believe how much they were polluting the earth and I was so scared of all the information that this journalist has given. I felt like blaming all for Chinese but later I thought it was not lonely their fault. I kind of understood why they were hesitating to stop the problems that they are causing. They want their country to be wealthy like others. Also, I do not think it is right for others to blame China because they also polluted the environment in order for their countries to be wealthy and rich. That really doesn¡¯t mean that what China is doing right now is good. I think they should come up with some brilliant solutions for their own good.
If Chinese do not work on this problem, sadly, it will be harder to solve these problems or become a wealthy country like they want to be. Also, more people will get really bad diseases and die. Animal mutations could happen, too if they do not stop polluting. If they do, it will be good for everyone in this world and for the environment, too.
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Post by jayanth23 on Sept 9, 2007 16:29:33 GMT 5.5
This article mainly deals with the major problem which faces the world today. Pollution. This article focuses on China's part of the problem. Over a million people die in China due to pollution in a single year that is the population of Trinidad & Tobago. China has made it self the back bone of the world. It is the largest industrial country in the world. China now makes half of the world’s cement and flat glass, and about a third of its aluminum. In 2006, China overtook Japan as the second-largest producer of cars and trucks after the United States. It supplies 35% of the world's steel on top of this. It manufactures cheap products that fill stores in the United States and Europe. This rapid growth of industrialization has proved too much for China to handle. It has become the most polluted country in the world, passing the USA and that is saying a lot.
In order to achieve all this, China burns coal as its fuel. This most pollutant way of producing energy. It burns the largest amount of coal in the world, an estimated 2.7 tons a year. That is the amount Europe, USA and Japan combined. In order to sustain the ever growing population in China, the country built 7.5 billion square feet of residential space. That is the floor space of all the malls in the US. But what is even more astonishing is that in 2005 China added 66 gigawatt to its power grid. That is enough electricity to supply Britain. Last year, it added an additional 102 gigawatt, as much as France. Where does all this extra energy come from? Coal! OK, I agree that China does need to produce a large amount of electricity but what about the factories that do the processing? It has been researched that the Chinese coal factories are most polluted in the world. Have an answer to that? Even though these factories have more efficient ways of doling the work the simply will not do it. The main reason is because of costs. People care about money not aftermath.
I think the main reason for China's pollution is the government. In communism people do not have a strong voice that can be heard. They can not change the course of their country. It is about to the government to bear the burden. This is a major set back in communism. I feel that China has to become a democratic state in order to achieve success. Another issue is the pressure form the 2008 Olympic games. China is rushing to the matter instead of stepping back and looking at the bug picture. People will soon realize that the government is not satisfying the basic needs of the people. They will realize that they need a democracy in order to live a non-pollutant live. i hope that this change will occur soon and without any violence. The biggest nation with the biggest amount pollution should be able to create the biggest change in the world.
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Post by yeeun on Sept 9, 2007 16:40:19 GMT 5.5
Pollution Researches Deadly Extreme
Ye Eun.Park 09.09.07 Developing Nation 4th period
Summary
As China develops more, China has more environmental problems? Yes, today¡¯s China has serious problems with pollution. Further, it is also true that their fast development is the most effective cause of the pollution. Then, why does China have so serious environmental problems as they develop? It is because the consumption in resources and the population density is much huger than other countries.
Today, China produces most of resources for the world. For example, cement. It is one of resource which China exports to the world. In addition, China burns coal much more than United States, Europe and Japan combined. So it means the huge amount of trash from such resources directly harms water and air. Further, the water and air affects people¡¯s health. Today in China, the main reasons that people die are heart disease and lung cancer and the second reason is the air pollution.
The one more reason that China¡¯s pollution is much worse than other countries is because of the population density. In China, the population is so dense in one narrow area, so the speed of environmental degradation is much faster.- Because: the consumption of resource is much more than the average amount of other countries.
Then, why China cannot come up with a solution for this terrible pollution. It is because of the way Communist Party leads economy. Actually, as China develops more, the leaders in the Communist Party can get more. On the other hand, the people under poverty can get only the necessity for their life barely. So today, some groups of people think as they can just let the pollution gets worse because then, the Communist Party cannot get more. Further, they also think they might be able to change the whole system to the one they want.
So today, in China, people all know the seriousness of pollution, but they do not come up with a solution for it.
My opinion and prediction I think the world cannot just blame only China about this pollution. Because: actually, the world has used China¡¯s companies and resources much more than China uses. Since China started heavy industries and resource business, the world all focused on China¡¯s development. Further, they actually longed China developed faster. So China has showed a huge, huge development, and China, itself has dreamed about to be a powerful country. By the way, today, the world is only blaming China as the cause of the pollution. Of course, China, itself has made problem, but the world cannot just blame China only. It is a global responsibility.
Now, look around in your house, and see how many things are made in China materials. You probably find so many things. In addition, you would be surprised once more because you will recognize that so many famous cloth and jewelers makers use China companies too. The global companies cannot earn without China¡¯s cheap labors and companies.
If the world keeps blaming China only, there would be no solution because there would be only an argument between China and the world. They will never come up with a solution until they can really see the damage of environment. Further, I think such a problem does not only happen in China. Broadly, when a developing country starts heavy industries, the greed of developed nations destroys the country by pretend investment. I think what the developing nations really need is time. Time to develop until they will prepare and adapt to the new business and market.
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Post by yulli on Sept 9, 2007 17:24:19 GMT 5.5
Pollution reaches deadly extreme- China
This article is basically all the problems about China, kind of. However, it mainly talks about its serious pollution problem. As we all know, currently, China is the leading industrial country in the world and China has developed so drastically past 20 years. Even though China¡¯s economy¡¯s growing in such a drastic shape, double-digit growth rates in a year, many Chinese people are facing a lot of problem due to this. Air pollution, water pollution and all various kinds of pollution are choking China to nearly death. Because China¡¯s industry¡¯s mainly on coal mining, factories, cars, and things in which that cause severe pollutions all over the country, the country¡¯s not safe. It is even shocking to believe that only 1percent of a population among the whole Chinese people breathe in air that¡¯s considered to be safe enough to be breathed, according to EU. Now, cancer is China¡¯s leading disease to death, due to an excessive pollution. It is certainly very sad to hear that only very few people drink water that¡¯s clean enough to drink. Air pollution is also causing a lot of troubles. Most of Chinese cities are wrapped with gray, dull colored thick air, causing people to suck in dirt in their bodies. Well, the problem that¡¯s even harsh is that China has an enormous amount of population but people do not protect themselves. Perhaps China might be happy to see its economy changing day by day but a lot of concerns are being raised from the countries of the world. The article¡¯s protesting that the politics have something to do with China¡¯s chaotic situations. This current event has stated that the need for social stability before the 2008 Olympics will be required as an undeniable opportunity for China to improve the environment.
My opinion in this event is that I feel that China should think about two things at once rather than caring about only one. It certainly is great for China to improve their economy and become the world¡¯s leading industrial power because then they can earn a lot of money and become a strong nation. Though that isn¡¯t at all, China should also think about its people, land, and itself before moving on. Perhaps she¡¯s not going in a right direction because I feel that China can develop its economy with other various types of industry rather than one that causes enormous pollution to its land. I am not saying that China should change but she can also try different things. Although I kind of blame for China¡¯s pollution because it¡¯s also troubling out nation, Korea and Japan but, we can¡¯t only blame for her. It really makes me think that why doesn¡¯t the other nations help dealing with China¡¯s pollution problem if they are really concerned about them? I mean many countries are capable of helping one nation even though the nation¡¯s really big. Before I thought about this incident carefully, I blamed China very much for causing so much of pollution all around the world but now, I can kind of understand what it feels. China isn¡¯t obviously developed yet and many countries desire to be strong, and I just feel that China¡¯s going too extreme when they can build it up slowly.
I think that China¡¯s main problem was its vast population from the beginning. I kind of agree with the points in the article where it said that social stability will bring development to China¡¯s environment. Because I do not agree with the idea of communist and think it¡¯s just really ¡®primitive.¡¯ China requires a new idea to refresh its environment and way to save peoples lives before it gets any worse.
In a pre-colonial era, China and India were highly developed in many industries than Europeans and Americas. However, Europe had a lot of advantages to its success to the industry; unfortunately most of Asian countries didn¡¯t have them. In a present day, it seems like China¡¯s doing anything without thinking about their results for growing economy. And I even feel that does China really need to do all those things to bring up its economy? She¡¯s got time and I think that slow changes in economy will bring so many good things at the end. I have a few questions on this incident. First, what led China to become world¡¯s leading industrial power? Although the article kind of briefly stated that answer, I still didn¡¯t get it. Second, does China really need to develop its economy in a way that can cause thousands of Chinese to death? And my last question is that why isn¡¯t China republic yet? Many countries became republics but China¡¯s still a communist country and this is also another reason for China¡¯s pollution according to the article. It is obvious that many countries go through a lot of changes, and I am very curious why China isn¡¯t changing yet.
My predictions to this article is that China will start projects on conserving its green environment. If i was a Chinese reading this article about my own nation, i would feel really sad and perhaps repentant for not thinking about it. But as this article's posted on a web site that's globally known, many Chinese officials and even government will read about it and start to comprehend their problems and figure out ways to conserve the environment. But before starting on any projects, it is extremely significant for Chinese people to realize that they can change their own environment by giving constant endeavors.
I found other articles about China¡¯s extreme pollution and saw the film about how serious the problem is. Whole world¡¯s concerned and everyone wants China to realize the problems that she¡¯s having quickly and find effective solutions for it. I was terrible shocked when I saw the film because even though China and Korea interact with one another in many different ways, I¡¯ve never noticed about its pollution trouble. And I really hope that China figures out the problems and solve them.
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Post by sparsh on Sept 9, 2007 17:55:56 GMT 5.5
This article is about the pollution in China and the affects. I was shocked reading this article because it said only 1 percent of the country’s 560 million city dwellers breath air considered safe by the European Union. Also pollution has made cancer the #1 killer. China is looking for a :magic formula" or a way to clear the skies from pollution for the 2008 Olympics which again is very shocking. This article makes China sound like a slum . Next nearly 500 million people lack access to safe drinking water, how could this be happening. the government needs to do something about this ASAP. Another thing that amazed me was that "Sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides spewed by China’s coal-fired power plants fall as acid rain on Seoul, South Korea, and Tokyo. Much of the particulate pollution over Los Angeles originates in China, according to the Journal of Geophysical Research" This is terrible, China is like a murderer, and needs some help. If it keeps going like this the population will drop in drastic measures. So many people are dying year by year. the government needs to take interest in this topic and put a little less attention to its economy.
My opinion is that this C.E. is very sad but interesting. It shows us that China which is so technologically developed has geographical problems and is not doing anything about it. I think if China keeps going in this rate, it will lose all tourist attractions and there will definitely not be a 2008 Olympics in China and probably nothing else there either if this keeps going on.
One question that comes to my mind is that why does this article come about now?Why didn't the geologist or anybody see the pollution in China and do something about it?
This needs to be stopped ASAP
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Post by sam on Sept 9, 2007 19:36:15 GMT 5.5
If there is ever a current even that long again, I will most likely shoot myself (please no smart comments). POLLUTION
Wow. That is a really eye opening article. The fact that pollution in China is bad enough that it can affect Las Angeles, halfway across the world, is astonishing. It’s also a big problem. The number of deaths caused by this amount of pollution is also astonishing. If China doesn’t pull out of this coal and pollution filled hell, the long term consequences will be even more devastating then what’s going on right now. But one of the real questions is: how did this happen? Obviously it has been building up over time and people have been living with all this pollution for a very long time. Why didn’t the leaders of the country try and stop it? Haven’t they seen it coming? The answer is this. They were too caught up with industrializing their country and making a profit that they didn’t think to stop and look at the long term problems they were on the brink of facing. Hopefully the leaders who recognize the problems will make true to their claims and really try and do something about it. It is real step that they actually recognize the problems, and the next step is dealing with it. The number of people breathing in air not fit to breath is disgusting. Everyone has the right to breathe air that won’t give them flippin’ cancer. But obviously, whose fault is it? The industries. I am not at all against advancement. Quite the contrary. But I believe that there are better ways to develop than killing the inhabitants of a nation. Reducing the gas output would be a GOOD IDEA. You know what else sucks? What if things get so extreme that you can’t even get all that sweet junk from the factories in China? Say goodbye to all those awesome lampshades and martial arts uniforms! But there are people trying to make a difference and at least there are attempts to reduce all the pollution. But the bottom line is: [glow=red,2,300] [/glow]
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Post by sohee on Sept 9, 2007 19:44:59 GMT 5.5
So Hee Lee 09.09.07 Developing Nations
This current is basically about China¡¯s recent problems. Recently, China is having pollution problems. Base on this current event, the main reasons of the pollution problems are staggering expansion of heavy industry and urbanization that requires colossal inputs of energy, almost all from coal, the most readily available, and dirtiest, source. One of China¡¯s leading environmental researchers said Chinese know that they have to avoid those problems and there is pressure for change, but many people refuse to accept that they need a new approach so soon. China¡¯s environment problems are serious to Chinese too, but it is also becoming the world¡¯s problem and making people to worry about it. For example, their coal-fired power plants fall as acid rain on Seoul, South Korea, and Tokyo. Lots of people think China might overtake the United States as the world¡¯s leading producer of green house gases by 2010, or possibly later.
Communist Party is one of reasons of this event. They are trying to avoid these problems but they found difficulties to deal with alleviate pollution and having time to slow down the fast growth. But pollution poses its own threat. Health care costs have climbed up sharply, several water shortages could turn more farmland into desert, and the environment problems get harder and more expensive to address the longer they are unresolved. In China, different campaigns have been started to close illegal coal mines and shutter some heavily polluting factories but I don¡¯t think these helps China to be clean because China have got into the serious hole and they cannot go without political change.
My opinion and the prediction about this current is this is not all of China¡¯s faults because United States and Europe order them to make things what they need because Chinese have cheap products. What made the cheap products of Chinese was manufactures that dump waste into rivers or pump smoke into the sky. I think United States and Europe are having responsibility of this event. But on the other hand, I think if Chinese thought about their future before they build a building and tried to grow China quickly, they are not having a hard time to make China to be cleaned. Although they are trying, if it does not help China to be cleaned, then it is all in vain and China will not able to step out from these problems. So they have to try much harder as they can.
In addition, the other countries should help China too because if they do not help them, then China¡¯s problems will affect them too and the world will become more serious. I think this current event shows us and this current event¡¯s writer wanted us to realize the importance of cooperation between the countries and in the world.
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Post by sofiekh on Sept 9, 2007 20:11:15 GMT 5.5
China is developing very fast to become an economic superpower. In this process they are using a lot of coal in old-fashioned power plants to produce energy. This is leading to heavy air pollution in nearly all China.
Many people are dieing of the consequences for making China a developed country. There is a number of organizations reporting that there is about 500.000 people dieing every year do to pollution.
The government is trying to reduce emissions and conserving energy, but the campaigns have no effect. There are no special focus on energy consumption and environmental protection. This illustrated by the very few full-time employees in the relevant agencies.
It is choking that China is accepting the big environmental problems just to become fast a developed country. The country is facing so many challenges to get energy and water consumptions and pollution under control.
There is a parallel to how the Europeans over consumed energy and resources and polluted heavily in the process of developing. However, the Europeans became wiser and corrected their mistakes during the last decades, whereas the Chinese apparently deliberately ignores the negative consequences of a massive over consumption of energy and resources. This is hard to understand for most of us.
If China continues to do what they are doing now, it will hit the rest of the world, not just Asia. It will break down the ozone layer and after a few years we will all look like grilled chicken.
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Post by miriam on Sept 9, 2007 22:39:23 GMT 5.5
Pollution Reaches Deadly Extreme
Mainly what this event is about is China’s pollution. In china there is an unbelievable amount of pollution due to the rapid economic growth. It is growing so fast that “China’s rise as an economic power has no clear parallel in history”. China also shows very little concern for the environment. All leading industrial counties have developed economically with heavy environmental impact. Countries usually only deal with environmental issues after they have become rich, China has to deal with it while still being poor 'there is no model for us to follow.''said Ren Yong, a climate expert at the Center for Environment and Economy in Beijing' The problem is that ‘china’s problem has become the world’s problem’ as pollution affects every single one of us. While ‘China is choking on it’s own success’ it I stuck in a vicious circle of: more concern for the environment can lead to less economic growth which already has resulted in unrests but high pollution and unsafe water has also triggered unrests. The problems are manifold. China has become used to its amazingly rapid economic growth and although it’s leaders are aware of the horrific impact the continuing mistreatment of the environment will have, their views are rather short sighted. For example only few of china’s power plants (not even recently build ones) use modern technology. Although the power plants with modern technology would save money and help reduce pollution in the future, the fact that they are more expensive and take longer to build keeps the Chinese government from taking them into consideration as much as they should. China’s tax policies do not help towards a solution of the pollution problem either. Heavy polluters are not “punished” with higher taxes or higher bank loans, a system to make companies reduce their levels of pollution which worked well in Europe and Japan. Public pressure for a cleaner environment is on the rise and as I said before china’s leaders are well aware of the problem. The government keeps on setting ‘targets for energy efficiency, as well as improving air and water quality’ which are hardly ever met. Illegal coal mines are being closed and highly polluting factories are being shut down, however, sometimes provincial official, with ‘substantial authority’, for example reopening mines and factories closed by the Chinese government, defying the governments edict. ‘Over all, enforcement is often tinged with corruption.’ Foreign companies subcontracting production in china or building factories there are claimed by the Chinese to be part of the pollution problem. Beijing ‘argues that rich countries caused global warming and should find a way to solve it without impinging on China’s development.’ Hu Jintao (the Chinese communists party leader) introduced the “Green GDP” in 2004. The gross domestic product in china is achieved at a high cost to the environment. To address this the “Green GDP” took into consideration health issues caused by pollution. This calculation brought the GDP from 10% down to 7%, which means that 3% of the GDP were spent to undo damage to public health. However Mr. Hu’s survey did not asses the cost of the impact on the ecology. As this was done ‘in some provinces the pollution-adjusted growth rates were reduced almost to zero — the project was banished to China’s ivory this spring and stripped of official influence.’ With “Green GDP” off the table, China’s main response to the growing international pressure was a government order to reduce the energy consumption by 20% in 2010, while achieving the same economic activity (compared to 2005), but Energy use still rises. Now with all these problems I find it hard to believe that China ha indeed got NO ENERGY MINISTER!! With the major culprits for air pollution being coal and cars (air pollution is measured in PM with a figure over 40 being regarded as unsafe by the European Union and Beijing in 2006 reaching 141) Oil and gas are still subsidized and officials reject extra charges for electricity and coal. Through dumping farm land becomes waste land and the water quality is so bad it sometime is even unfit for agricultural use. An unpublicised study of the “Chinese Academy Of Environmental Planning” claims around 400,000 people die each year due to pollution. With the energy Buro only having 100 full time staff environmentalists and an ‘army of amateur regulators’ expose pollution and try to enforce environmental laws. Local officials though, don’t like being criticized and anyone stirring up these issues might even risk arrest. As ‘Chinese cities often seem wrapped in a toxic grey shroud’ and ’ only 1 percent of the country’s 560 million city dwellers breathe air considered safe by the European Union. Beijing is frantically searching for a magic formula’ ‘to clear its skies for the 2008 Olympics.’ I believe that if the Chinese government has already got plenty of good ideas but is either incapable or – at least some people – unwilling to reinforce them. If everybody from the government down to corrupt ‘provincial officials’ and including Environmentalists would work towards the common goal – economic growth ( maybe not that big and fast ) AND environmental protection then all the above discussed problems would probably be solved over time. Maybe not in time for the Olympics in 2008, because for this to be achieved you need patience - sadly I think that patience as well as far sightedness and money are the three things that the government is not willing to give … yet.
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Post by sujata on Sept 9, 2007 23:13:35 GMT 5.5
This article about the pollution in China is long over due. People are only waking up now because it’s probably affecting their lives more now than ever. Pollution, not only in China but also all over the world is affecting us and therefore we finally are choosing to bring it up, but we aren’t doing much about it yet. The fact that it’s making the news is a good thing though; it shows that we are more educated about these things now.
This event affects the people of China directly but also indirectly affects the whole world and especially the places around China. There is nothing the Chinese can do about it because their huge economy depends on the power from coal and other things that is ruining our environment. There aren’t many efficient eco-friendly ways a big nation like China can use. Of course, trying to clear things up only for the Olympics won’t help; they’ve got to want to clear things up for them, for their country.
It’s upsetting to know what’s going on in the world today, but we can’t change what has already happened, but can only prevent what more is going to happen. We always talk about saving our environment, but we never do anything about it. We do try to prevent this awful event from getting worse but is there a lot we can do?
The development of China is what has caused this, but we can’t stop the development since China is a developing nation and its economy would collapse without that development. Due to the large amount of technology and development China has polluted their air, and to stop it a lot of professional help will be required. Eventually China will learn that they are going to need to find another resource because coal won’t last them forever and hopefully they’ll be able to find a more environmentally friendly resource for the same functions.
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Post by hawklim on Sept 9, 2007 23:56:48 GMT 5.5
China is now one of the biggest countries that is still developing and has history that shows how strong they are. They look like they are improving very fast in economy like cheetah (Well, they are) but they are stepping back in their environmental level, which are air pollutions, water pollutions, and critical damages for Korea, Japan and U.S.A
My opinion about this article is as one country grow so fast in economy there will be also some disasters will come together. Compare this fast growth of China with South Korea¡¯s economic growth. They both build factories and grow up faster than any other country¡¯s expectations, but pollutions were increased so fast that they recognized it fast. However, they both had some serious trial by pollutions. The fishes were dying because of some toxic water. Air was contaminated by smoke raised from factories. All these dirty things, you can say it is trial to become the best country, but I do not think so.
Actually, I did not have any bad feelings with China, but since they were one of the causes of acid rain, I am angry with them. Korea is always sick of the sandstorm coming from China Gobi desert in the spring. Many Koreans who are living in the Seoul always cough because of the sandstorm¡¯s sand and dust. When the raining season has come, the acid rain drops on the treasure of Korea sometimes, and they are damaged because acid rain, they started to melt down. I think that China has not realized something. There is more than what eyes see. China is going to use a meteorological deus ex machina I do not know whether it will clean even the toxic that smoke made, but I think it will give another damages to China. For example, buying this machina with taxes will make citizens to do strike. Alternatively, it will make some crush to the government, even though using machina for the images of China.
Nowadays China is the most famous country in Asia. Every tourist is trying to go to China and see The Great Wall and King Jin Shi¡¯s tomb. It is obvious thing to say that tourists are not going to somewhere very bad will contaminated place, but I think even though they are tourists, they need to know the both sides of country, good and bad. Then, they will be able to see the whole thing pure and realize the problem that the world needs to solve. What are those whole things call W.H.O, F.D.A and U.N? I hope you can understand what I want to say.
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Post by pyeonchan on Sept 10, 2007 1:39:29 GMT 5.5
As China Roars, Pollution Reaches Deadly Extremes
¡¡¡¡¡¡Nowadays, one of the major issues over the whole world is environmental problems such as the global warming or the pollutant water. The current tendency that deepens the seriousness of pollution is closely related to China, which is the biggest producer of air pollutant. Although many experts predicted that China would not catch up with U.S. in terms of emitting the pollutants, China already jumped as the first-biggest country of emission over the world.
¡¡¡¡¡¡Due to the unparalleled development speed through the whole human generation, the Chinese cannot find the solution for reducing the emission of the pollutants or preserving their environment. In proportion to its development speed, the emission speed or occupation over the world is also the fastest throughout the history. Because of these serious environmental pollution problems, it is linked to the Chinese¡¯ health problem. The cancer becomes the leading cause of death, and millions of Chinese suffer from the lack of clean drinking water or the diseases from the severe environmental situation.
¡¡¡¡¡¡Even though the Chinese Communist Party knows the importance and seriousness of the problem, it is difficult for them to approach the problem, because the fast growth can alleviate the demand for the political changes as well as protecting the party¡¯s rule. Furthermore, there is no example or guidance for the Chinese government to follow, due to not having the similar situation through the history. The most developed countries, such as U.S., Japan, or the other European countries, started to deal with the environmental problems when the development was further progressed. However, China is not developed compared to these countries. Ultimately, the Chinese need to care about the pollution problems as well as the development for the industries.
¡¡¡¡¡¡No matter what the Chinese think, most people point out the development of China as the main reason for accelerating the disruption of Ozone layer caused by the tremendous use of coals or fossil fuels. The world becomes warmer, and the greenhouse effects occur on the earth. To resolve this problem, the world should be cooperated with the other countries and reduce the use of harmful substances which can make the pollutants. As the first biggest producer of pollutants, China also alleviates the use of fossil fuels for the development and needs to look back their contributions to the aggravation of the world environment.
¡¡¡¡¡¡As the person who was suffered from the acid rain and sandy dust which blew from the Gobi Desert, I strongly urge the Chinese government to stop the serious development. Not only Korea but U.S. and Japan also have suffered from its sandy stone which contains the pollutants while passing China. The conferences for discussing the global warming or protecting the environment should hold constantly, and the Kyoto protocol should also be observed. The constant endeavors for keeping our land fresh and being interested in the issue of environment would be the fastest way not to be threatened by the environmental problems. The world needs to recognize the seriousness of the issue and the Chinese Communist government must find out the solution not only for China but for the world.
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Post by jihyeyun on Sept 10, 2007 7:12:38 GMT 5.5
One of the serious consequences of the Republic of China's rapid industrial development has been increased pollution and degradation of natural resources. Water pollution is a source of health problems across the country and air pollution causes up to 750,000 premature deaths each year. As china is fast develop and expanding their industry, there are more environmental problems following of development. China has grown up so much during recent decades. China¡¯s economy is the first priority for in China because she is just started to growing up faster than ever before. Thus people may not want to lose their chance and opportunity to develop. Yet, now a day the environmental issue in China is becoming larger and more concerning issue of the world than China¡¯s development. Chinese Politicians are struggling between the issue of development and the environmental problems. Lots of new born diseases from polluted environment are killing too many people living in China. I got shocked from the fact that only 1% of people are breathing considerable fresh air. Foreign countries invest not for the factories and industrial development of Chin but for environmental problem. World may focuses on industrialization and fast growing but the more serious problem is energy efficiency, conservation and pollution. I think that development of China is not worthy killing so many not only cheeses but also people in neighbor countries. ¡®Global warming¡¯ is a phenomenon of green house gases trapping heat out of atmosphere. Global warming causes extreme weather pattern over the world, rising in sea level by melting ice bergs and permafrost in poles, and causing land fluctuation by melting permafrost under the land cause disconnection of pipes in poles. If from not world does not cooperate and put the best effort for the environmental issues in their countries, the problems will be much bigger to the world. Underlying problem in China is the size of population in limited land area. Even though china has wide spread land space through the continent the land can¡¯t stand the number of people living in China. People drive many their own vehicles, polluting the air; require lots of consumption and services and so on. Also, when people dispose solid waste, they do not take full steps of purification. Burning fossil fuel to produce energy for people emits the large amount carbon dioxide and cars and factories produce mainly sulfur dioxide. More serious problem of china¡¯s pollution is that the pollution spreads through the continent by wind or rain to other countries. Effects of china which is big country affect other countries in the world is the potential environmental problem. One country¡¯s environmental problem is not the problem of that country but the global problem. Sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides spewed by china¡¯s coal fired power plant caused acid rain on Soul in South Korea and Tokyo even some particulate pollution over Los Angeles far away from China. Tokyo protocol set the limit level of carbon dioxide and other pollution level for each country and it really helps to keep the pollution level and reduce greenhouse gas emission and also the pollution of countries. Solutions that I could come up with are first that people should invent new energy sources that emit less pollution and renewable resources which are not limited in amount. For instance hydroelectric power, solar energy, wind energy and so on. These resources are known as less polluting energy yet; still need more development to be used in the real life. However, solar energy which is getting energy from the sun and converted to the energy source for home usage is active compared to the other new energy. Like in tropical country, sun is strong, solar energy is really useful and save lots of energy. In addition, increasing services of public transpiration is the very important method of decreasing pollution. Especially, heavy population country like India and China need to have good services of public transpiration: bus, train or bike. The governments of countries can encourage people enough to use more public transportation of bike instead of their own vehicles which is main sulfur dioxide emission. China requires many campaigns and policies that reflect the environmental concerns which are all very useful ways of encourage citizens of country. I hope that China succeed in successful recovering environment and having great Olympic in 2008 with world¡¯s attention. [/size]
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Post by Gregory Hewett on Sept 10, 2007 11:23:18 GMT 5.5
Alright folks, if you haven't posted a reply at this point, then your h.w. is late.
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Post by divya on Sept 10, 2007 11:49:57 GMT 5.5
this comment is for arpita
i think that you should read other people's work for ideas, but don't copy so many of their ideas. I noticed you used many of the same references as i did and you just slightly changed it and even ended it almost the same. you have really good ideas and i think that you should use your ideas more and expand on them. maybe writing something first and posting it then reading others for future suggestions would be a better idea for you.
-divya
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Post by yeeun on Sept 10, 2007 11:53:34 GMT 5.5
Divya-
Well, actually, when i was doing current even i was angry about only blaming China about the pollution. By the way, you also cared about the people who are suffered under the pollution. It is really good. : )
Well, I learned one thing from you. Next time, I will also think about the people and think more about the solution for the people. : )
GOooooood GOooood!!
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Post by divya on Sept 10, 2007 11:55:25 GMT 5.5
Dear Ye Eun Hey, you have really good ideas and i agree with people only blaming China for the pollution divya and i think that you organized your ideas really well. It's really interesting to read your opinions and predictions about this current event. we love you ye eun!
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Post by yulli on Sept 10, 2007 11:55:38 GMT 5.5
Reply to Jayanth's opinion
Hey! I think your idea is clear in the last paragraph. I agree with you about China's political problem. I also wrote that China should also become democratic country if they want to reduce the pollution. Though I felt that you need to write more about the pollution problem itself rather than writing about how China is the leading industrial country in the world. Just narrow down a bit and try to focus on the main problem. ^^ And it would've been better if you added your predictions or thoughts about China's future. Bye~
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Post by divya on Sept 10, 2007 11:55:58 GMT 5.5
by the way... the last comment was made by eun ju and divya for ye eun
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Post by pyeonchan on Sept 10, 2007 11:56:29 GMT 5.5
After reading Sparsh's comment By rahel and yeonchan
Your comment seems to be quite logical in terms of feeling the seriousness of the pollution of China. I was also surprised at the fact that the sandy wind from Gobi Desert crossed over the Pacific Ocean, just like you. You really worry about the people and what they have to go through in the future.
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Post by yeeun on Sept 10, 2007 11:57:33 GMT 5.5
Jayanth-
Hey, i read your reply and it was really good, - good summary and you showed about explained the causes of pollution really well. By the way, I just want to share my thought about Communist party since you have a powerful opinion of China's government. Well : ) I do not think China's government has not handled the economy or trade well. They actually have done really good work in economy. Well, later, can you explain more about why you disagree with the Communist party in China?
Anyway, really good work !! : )
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Post by sam on Sept 10, 2007 11:58:08 GMT 5.5
I am responding to Sparsh's reply: I guess that I agree with your opinion. But your actual opinion isnt very long. Next time elaborate on your own response. Besides that i think you touched bases with some interesting points and i think it was a good reply. It was a good enough reply, except that i think you should have your reply longer.
CONSTRUCTIVE CRITISM!
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Post by jihyeyun on Sept 10, 2007 12:00:27 GMT 5.5
Comment for Yeun Chan ƒº Yes I agree with your opinion that Chinese environmental problem is global problem. You wrote that Chinese cannot find the solution for reducing the emission of the pollutants or preserving their environment in your first paragraph, yet, I think Chinese possibly come up with solutions about environmental problem. It is just that the politicians or people are struggling between the industrial developments and recovering environment. To recover china¡¦s serious environmental problem requires so much of money, time and effort that it may block the country to development further. In addition in the last paragraph of your comment, you mentioned about sandy dust called ¡§yellow dust¡¨ from the Gobi desert but you did not make connection to the pollution of environmental problem of China. If you don¡¦t make connection between this ¡§yellow dust¡¨ than other may think that it is natural thing. So, I think you better explain that how the desertification occurred caused by industrial development. I really like your comment the idea about how important this environmental problem in China.
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Post by sam on Sept 10, 2007 12:00:40 GMT 5.5
Sorry... I think my last comment sounded mean compared to all the other ones. My bad
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