Reports today surface yet again of the dreadful and dangerous air pollution levels in Beijing, the Chinese capitol. Horrified American diplomats described it, with pictures, in "tweets" (whatever they are) to associates back in the USA. Now, this is not a surprise, as the air pollution in many Chinese cities is among the worst and most dangerous in the world. Indeed, coupled with the epidemic of cigarette smoking in China, aided and abetted by the central government no doubt, up to 400,000 Chinese a year die from smoking and air pollution. Ned finds this reprehensible not the least because the Chinese take in hundreds of billions in foreign exchange from Americans purchasing Chinese-made goods, at the expense of American jobs. They could use some of this fortune to purchase anti-pollution equipment from American manufacturers, or they could mandate low-sulfur coal, or they could demand a switch from coal to natural gas as a bridge to a gas, nuclear, and renewables future. Or they could order the end to open coal fires in Chinese homes in lieu of central heating, like the British did as a result of the "Killer Smog" of 1953.
But the fact is, they are doing little or nothing, content to have their people suffer needlessly from the effects of these levels of air pollution that would not be tolerated for a moment anywhere in the West.
Ned's point is this: the Chinese government behaves this way because we buy their goods. Let's stop buying their goods until they start requiring air-pollution controls at least as stringent as AMERICAN UTILITIES AND BUSINESSES HAVE TO COMPLY WITH.
No comments:
Post a Comment