China, 1995 - "Development First, Environment Later" - "Later" Arrives

[hatrack]

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Ten years ago, Chinese leaders popularized the slogan: "Development first. Environment later." "Later" has arrived with a vengeance. Despite tough new anti-pollution laws, savvy grass-roots activists and hard-nosed regulators, China's power plants, refineries, chemical factories and steel mills still spill countless tons of poisons into the air and waterways.

According to the World Health Organization, 16 of the world's 20 most air-polluted cities are in China. Breathing the air in any major Chinese city on a bad air day is like smoking three packs of cigarettes. Respiratory illness is the No. 1 killer in China. Every year, air pollution causes 400,000 premature deaths and 75 million asthma attacks. Every major waterway has stretches in which fish cannot be eaten because they are too toxic. Skyrocketing demand for clean water is drawing down aquifers faster than they can recharge. The spreading Gobi Desert has already displaced 10 times as many farmers as were uprooted in the American Dust Bowl in the 1930s.

Between 1990 and 2003, China's consumption of iron ore increased tenfold; its consumption of aluminum increased sixfold; its use of copper and industrial platinum increased 80-fold. However, the real pinch point for China is energy. Energy use is increasing 10 percent per year, and electricity production is growing 15 percent annually. The country is adding a new 1,000-megawatt power plant every week. Still, 24 provinces experienced severe power shortages last year.

The Three Gorges Dam -- the world's largest hydroelectric dam -- has displaced nearly 2 million people and will destroy a complex, ancient ecosystem. China uses twice as much coal as the United States does. Eighty percent of China's electricity and two-third of all its energy come from coal. This is a planetary problem because coal produces more greenhouse gas than any other fuel. Oil is another huge energy problem for China. Twelve years ago, China was a net oil exporter. Today, it imports 45 percent of its oil and is the second-largest oil consumer in the world, after the United States.

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http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/237317_focusmain21.html

[gizmo1979]

1. I saw a tv show

on this alittle while ago.It's actually a studied trend that all industrializing nations go through.Sounds like China may have started alittle late.

[ramapo]

2. Too bad

It would've been nice if they had learned from our mistakes. Instead they seem intent upon duplicating them, perhaps on a bigger scale.