Reply To: China could face environmental disaster

[Martin W]

Business comment article in UK’s Independent covers pollution in China. Includes:

Quote:

Environmental lobbyists have long castigated Americans as the planet’s “filthy rich”, but it is time we turned our attention to the East. You may be surprised to learn that China emitted more CO2 last year than the whole of Europe, and at current rates will overtake the US as the planet’s main polluter within two years. Already, 16 of the world’s top 20 most polluted cities are in China.
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Nearly 80 per cent of its river water is now considered polluted. It was highly symbolic when a recent expedition to save the Yangtse dolphin (a beautiful creature, once considered a god in China) reported a few weeks ago that it was too late. None could be found.

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The pollution clouds from China blow across Korea and Japan and are even thought to be reaching the US. If viewed from space, vast sulphurous clouds blank out where Beijing and Shanghai should be on the planet.

A Shanghai steel trader met me as I landed in China with the words “welcome to the future”. His beaming face portrayed the boundless optimism that is propelling China forwards. But if this future is one of poisoned water and smog-filled skies – forget it. It won’t work.

Wake up and smell the carbon.

Expert View: Message to China… wake up and smell the carbon

– Trouble is, it seems the national government has – albeit belatedly – woken up to China’s pollution problems, but isn’t powerful enough to solve the problem, including as local officials are too often greedy and corrupt, evidently quite happy to ignore pollution while the dollars flow in.
Even in Hong Kong, chief exec Donald Tsang has asserted that air pollution isn’t a major health issue; HK air isn’t as clean as the arctic’s, but not too bad he has claimed.
As I write this, the visibility in HK is a few hundred metres, thanks to severe smog as a cold front trundles our way.