The Cost of the Cause
China's rampantly growing prosperity, and the West's source of inexpensively-produced goods has come at a predictable cost. A newly-released study demonstrates that China's power as the new world producer of goods par excellence has led it to assume the post of the world's largest emitter of carbon dioxide. China has overtaken the United States on the emissions front far sooner than anticipated.Its boom-times economy and increasing demand for electricity have released emissions into the stratosphere, from its power stations and cement works. China now enjoys an 8% lead on the U.S. in emissions, according to the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency. The country is unstoppable in its determination to wrest production in all sectors from all other countries' capabilities.
And to do it cheaper, more efficiently, more copiously than any others would dare attempt. Its huge population base, low wages, lack of environmental concerns (despite statements to the contrary) place it in its (un)enviable position of leaving all other producing countries in its emissions-wake. China is in the process of building two new power stations each week; twice as many as previously envisioned.
Yet Western industrial powers are handing both the opportunity and the fall-out to China on a silver salver. By letting China produce all that waste and in the process providing a source of reliably inexpensive goods, they can rest on their laurels with lower emissions from, for example, the European Union. That doesn't completely let the West, the developed economies off the hook of responsibility, since most of the carbons already in the atmosphere were provided by us. China is merely catching up.
And in so doing, polluting her rivers and lakes, her groundwater. China's great metropolises with her great populations has traditionally had a problem with urban air pollution. That problem is accelerating; the quality of life for the population is improving as they become more wealthy thanks to increased production and employment opportunities and they become more fervent consumers of goods, but decreasing lamentably in terms of clean air and water.
Factory run-off of chemicals into lakes and rivers have caused incalculable damage and Chinese citizens are faced with the dilemma time and again of their domestic water supply so aggravatedly contaminated as to make it a sure formula for sickness and disease. Contaminated water makes for contaminated agriculture. And then there is the lack of accountability in both food and pharmaceuticals production, additionally claiming the lives of Chinese as well as hapless consumers abroad.
China's health ministry reported almost 34,000 serious outbreaks of food-related illness, with spoiled food in the forefront of the incidents. China's 450,000 food production companies have a large percentage of unlicensed producers; most don't conduct safety tests, let alone have the ability to do so. There is lamentably poor-to-no government agency oversight. Factories that deliberately leach chemicals into lakes and rivers do so against laws which China has enacted for the ostensible protection of its citizens.
Yet most factory owners flaunt the laws, even to putting up signs on their property indicating that no government inspectors are permitted entry. The problem of slave labour is endemic and ongoing, despite recent revelations. An attitude of utter lack of responsibility for outcome prevails in manufacturing throughout the country, despite the official wringing of hands in despair and determination expressed by the government (for consumption abroad) to bring order to the chaos of production techniques and lack of safety mechanisms.
The world is on notice. The real cost of cheap goods hasn't yet been fully revealed. We, like the Chinese people who are suffering the fall-out of a government determined to continue its unprincipled and environmentally costly growth potential, receive shocking little reminders from time to time, with the errant discovery of harmful additions to prepared foods and consumer products. Melamine in pet food and human products; lead in children's toys and jewellery; harmful elements in pharmaceuticals.
China claims to be stepping up its inspection process to ensure food and goods meet international standards. The U.S. recently refused entry to huge numbers of foodstuffs from China, deeming it to be "filthy". It's incumbent on our own governments to disallow entry to potentially harmful goods (say for example, diethylene glycol used as a cheaper substitute for glycerin in various products) entering Canada from China.
There is no price too high to pay for food and pharmaceutical safety. Cheap production is no substitute for reliable products. In this age of worries over environmental degradation, it's pretty incredible that we would import so many foodstuffs and other products that huge distance from Asia to Europe and North America, and even taking into account the price of shipping, goods are still cheaper than what we can produce.
We can readily pay for our goods in a manner more reflective of their production closer to home, doing ourselves a great favour in reliability of substance use, and the environment in shipping abuse.
We need a reality check for our priorities and values.
Labels: Environment, Human Fallibility
posted by Pieface @ Friday, June 22, 2007
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