Connections Between Western Consumption and China’s Pollution Problem?

By Colleen Heenan

With the Beijing Olympics around the corner, an increasing amount of news has been reported on the pollution problem in China. Since winning the bid to hold the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China’s environmental officials have taken increased measures to reduce emissions in a city which is almost always filled with mist and fog. When I hear about China’s environmental regulations, it makes me think back to a similar situation this country experienced: The American Industrial Revolution.

When America was on the industrial production rise, there were limited environmental regulations on everything from waste water runoff, to pesticide use and air pollution. The human element was hardly a factor; people worked long hours and were exposed to many different pollutants. Obviously, many strides have been taken to both improve labor conditions and decrease negative environmental impacts. Even though we have recently seen environmental regulation relaxed to lower standards, we are in much better shape then China today.

When you examine the sources of pollution filling Beijing’s skies with constant fog, they are mainly attributed to nearby factories, many of which are fueled by coal. The pollution from cars seems to be a smaller factor, because China has started an even and odd driving day system that removed over 2 million vehicles from the roads. The fog has only slightly receded; it is thought that the factories emissions of Volatile Organic Pollutants (VOC) are the main contributors to the ozone and smog. This week more regulations have been set into place to close more factories in and around the city of Beijing.

What are these regulations going to do to China’s economy? What is going to happen in the future of China’s environmental responsibilities? For the time being, China’s government is begrudgingly allowing the new regulations to occur, but only because of the money and tourism the Olympics are going to bring to the city. But when the Olympics are over will Beijing resort back to the same environmental regulations as before?

Most likely the answer is yes. China, in general, has the worst environmental regulation of any nation. When considering its size, energy use and energy creation, which outweighs almost every other nation, current regulations will only remain current. It would be too much money to try to improve labor conditions and environmental standards without another push, such as the Olympics.

In contrast to America’s industrial revolution, consider that China’s industrialization has not slowed down. China is one of the world’s leaders of exporting goods- cheaply. Many clothes, shoes, toys, household items and electronics come from China at a price that keeps other nations consuming Chinese goods at an ever increasing rate.

One of the reasons that Americans can say they have improved air pollution conditions in the past few decades is because of the increase of job outsourcing to China and newly developing countries in both central and South America. Just because we have fewer factories making fewer products, does not mean that Americans are not guilty for consuming any less then before and thus contributing to the pollution from those factories.

I think it is very important to remember the connection we have to the world especially when we purchases things, whither it is food, cloths, toys or cars. By having control over the amount we buy and where our sources come from, even if we don’t have control of other countries regulations, we can make great strides at reducing demands for cheap goods-which are made by cheap labor workers, who work in bad conditions because of the relaxed regulations. Sometimes not supporting certain industries is best thing we can do, at least for today.