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SCIENCE MATTERS by David Suzuki
I don’t know about you, but China scares me. It’s the most populous nation on the planet – home to 1.3 billion souls – yet, economically, it’s just waking up. How China handles its burgeoning economy, and how the developed world deals with China’s rapid industrialization, will have a profound impact on the planet.
China’s population has more than doubled over the past 50 years. Although population growth has now slowed, economic growth has exploded to more than three times the global average. China now has the world’s third-largest economy – huge, but nothing compared to what it would be if China’s rate of resource consumption reaches the level of industrialized nations.
As it is, China’s economy is pushing the country to its ecological limits. According to a recent article in the journal Nature, the impacts of pollution, desertification, deforestation and other environmental problems are starting to become acute. For example, 75 percent of China’s urban citizens breathe air that does not meet the country’s air-quality standards. It is estimated that more than 300,000 people in China die prematurely every year due to air pollution.
Three-quarters of China’s lakes are also polluted, and more than 100 of its cities suffer from severe water shortages, which occasionally shut down industrial production. In the city of Xian alone, it is estimated that water shortages result in $250 million US in lost production. Two-thirds of China’s fresh water originates from underground aquifers, which are fast becoming depleted and polluted. China’s ocean resources aren’t faring any better. Almost all of its coastal waters are polluted from sewage, toxins and oil spills. Fish harvests have declined sharply. Meanwhile, widespread deforestation is thought to be responsible for increased flooding, and more than a quarter of the country is affected by desertification, leading to dust storms and the loss of farmland. Those dust storms are a good example of how China’s environmental problems impact the rest of the world. They don’t just affect China; they also impact other countries throughout Asia. In recent years, plumes of dust, along with soot from China’s coal-fired power plants have even made their way across the Pacific Ocean to North America.
It is easy to say that the developed world has its own problems, so we should let China develop without our help. But such an attitude would be shortsighted and unfair.Many of the cheap goods we buy in North America are made in China from China’s natural resources, leaving much of the pollution behind. And the energy needed to power the factories to make those goods derives mostly from Chinese coal mines, where, according to conservative government estimates, some 6,000 workers die every year.
Global climate change is another looming problem the world must face, and China will play a key role. Right now, China’s per capita emission of heat-trapping gases is roughly half the world average and barely a tenth of the US’s. But China’s vast population and exploding economy means that it is already responsible for 12 percent of the world’s emissions and could soon rival the US unless it rapidly embraces cleaner and more efficient technologies.
China has recently taken a number of steps in the right direction, such as committing to European fuel-efficiency standards for vehicles. But the country’s reliance on coal, and its inefficient rural industries, will continue to push pollution levels up unless significant investment is made in clean technologies and renewable energy.
Helping China to improve its efficiency, and in some ways, its competitive edge, may seem strange. But in the long run, it’s in the best interests of developed countries to ensure that China’s growing economy is as efficient and environmentally friendly as possible. Because when it comes to pollution, what happens in China doesn’t stay in China any more.
Take the Nature Challenge and learn more at www.davidsuzuki.org.
Take the Nature Challenge and learn more at www.davidsuzuki.org
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