The first thought as your Boeing 777 is on its final approach to the Beijing International Airport may be, “I’m glad I brought my raincoat.” The lower we got, the thicker the cloud, promising at least a heavy shower on the ground. Wrong! Not only was there no rain, there was no rain cloud. Neither was there any indication that somewhere above was the sun. What we had descended through was a thick layer of smog! It was not my raincoat I was glad I carried, but a supply of facemasks. Not only in Beijing, but throughout the nation, the air is almost unbreathable. While pollution is a serious blight many places in the US, all over China it is far worse. In the recently bi-lateral agreement to cut air pollution, China stipulated that there could be no improvement on its end for the next 20 years. Indeed, in that time things are bound to get worse before any control will be effective.
On our end blocking a more immediate response to what may be the world’s number one problem is the intransigence of our fossil fuel corporations, backed up by the politicians they have bought and paid for. Coal may be the number one villain, but as long as Mitch McConnell runs the US Senate, the coal industry will call the shots. Capitalism is king, and to interfere with the bottom line is akin to treason. While in many States there is progress, it will generally come over the dead body of the insatiable lust for corporate profits.
China’s problem is significantly different. Their drive is not for corporate profits but for economic development. They soon hope to be the world’s number one economic powerhouse. With one billion three hundred million citizens, unrestrained development seems critical to the fulfillment of that vision.
The production of energy is the key. To that end China is committed eventually to make giant strides in the control of air pollution. The new Three Gorges Dam will produce energy equal to a dozen nuclear facilities. But it is still one step forward and two steps back. China now installs one new coal burning power plant every week. And this means additional billions of tons of carbon dioxide will be spewed into the atmosphere. I asked, whether given the enormous size of the problem, anything is being done. A local guide assured me that there are now laws on the books mandating scrubbers on every smokestack, but “no one pays any attention, and there is no current scrubbing anywhere.” In a Marxist society every factory has an assigned production goal, and meeting that quota is more important than following any lesser regulation. Pollution control thus takes a back seat to economic development
In addition, while the government has successfully generated a marvelous intercity highway system, urban roads are clogged with vehicular traffic, all spewing noxious fumes. Rapid transit, particularly high-speed trains, may ease the problem, but just as in the US, if you have a car—which increased millions of Chinese now do—the chances are you will find some reason to take to the road.
Wind and solar may make a dent in the problem, but you can’t run a city of 33 million, the population of Chongqing, on sunshine.
To complicate the issue, northern China—which lies just this side of the Gobi desert, is experiencing a prolonged drought. This vast area may run out of water even before California. The resulting dust storms only complicate the crisis. While increasingly people around the world are being made aware of the problem, in both the US and China, it does not top either agenda.
No comments:
Post a Comment