Environment and China's role - when the dust settles

After a great refreshing week in Shanghai and Hangzhou I am now back in the deep cold of Haerbin. It seemed to have dropped 20 degrees since I left and it probably didn’t help that in Shanghai and Hangzhou I enjoyed sunny 70 degree weather. Today was especially depressing because the smog seems to have crept in during the day… it is 5pm and already completely dark and the air seems to be thick and soupy. On my way to class just an hour ago I had to check my glasses for condensation, finding none I realized that the whole world had turned into a hazy almost hallucinogenic scene. Were we only to add a soundtrack composed of songs like the Door’s Riders of the Storm, or Pink Floyd’s Comfortably Numb it could have fit nicely into a Chinese version of a 90s stoner movie. Unfortunately I live in reality, most of the time, and had to face the reality that my eyes were slightly burning from either the fact that it did feel like I was drunk or stoned, or that in fact the haze was a damaging toxin… Either way not a pretty picture, and I really shouldn’t give you such a bad picture of Haerbin. Most days are not like this, in fact the past week has been cold but bearable – sunny with a light breeze (which apparently helped with the pollution). But it did scare me a bit. It makes you wonder why humans are incapable of realizing the devastating affects that we’ve had on this earth – even when it is right before our eyes and affecting our health and wellbeing. For China’s case perhaps people are just too rapped up in the rapid change that is taking place, too absorbed in the ‘work or die’ philosophy, not a bad philosophy really, but anything that is taken to an extreme seems to end badly. China also claims that it is just following the same path as other nations including the US, which is partly true. But does that exempt them from the present, where climate change are endangering thousands of species, lives and the world as we know it? The past, present and future need to be seen as a whole piece that all affect each other and be seen as connected. We were taught in school to learn from the past, make sure autrocities such as the Great Wars never happened again, that the Hollocaust would not repeat. Yet our leaders have done a very poor job of doing this.

For China’s part they claim they are following our past – they are industrializing and in the past， industrializing countries have developed at the expense of the environment and human rights. They look to the past and say: see, you did it, we are only following your example. But examples show both want others have done and the consequences of them, they show both good and bad and we can learn off of the whole story of the past, not just take it as an example to follow but an example not to follow. Take the dust bowl during the great depression – caused by over-farming, a certain obsession with available cheap land and the prospect to make money and a certain amount of government support for this – coupled with a major drought it led to one of the largest attacks on mother earth and worsened an economic environment that turned into the Great Depression. It was said that dust from the Midwest was being blown across America and the Atlantic and could be found all across Europe. Oddly enough China has its own share of dust that has slowly turned from nuisance to a health threat. Dust from the Gobi dessert, which is the fastest growing dessert in the world, has reached San Francisco and Portland. While this phenomenon cannot be solely blamed on the Chinese many of China’s environmental problems and linked health problems have been caused by overfarming, overgrazing and a widespread destruction of forests. Some of the same causes of the Dust Bowl in America.

The government is paying attention, and perhaps the greatest positive impact has been the Olympics which cast a broad light on China and its affect on the world. In hopes of stemming any large dust-storm that would have disgraced China’s leaders during the Olympics, reforestation projects were a major part of the great clean-up of Beijing. But these projects must be sustained. And they cannot only focus on making things look better for an international audience. Perhaps more pressing is that dust from the Gobi dessert is combining with toxins from China’s great industrial expansion. Toxins like cadmium, lead and even arsenic are catching a ride on the flying dust that enters Beijing, and has created major health problems in areas as far away as Korea. The problem has been so pressing that Korea now has 5 seasons one being marked by huge dust-storms that create a veil over the sky. It sounds not too far off from what I have experienced in Haerbin. Although it seems to only occur once a week it still scares me to think of how it will be in the next 10 years if growth continues in China and they continue following the ‘path’ of other industrialized countries. This excuse I find very troubling and extremely pointless. China has developed faster than any other country in the world and has the largest population in the world. How can it be claimed that they are following the path of others? I don’t buy it and my hope is that China will also realize the untruths of this statement. And there are reasons why they may soon do this: one is because of the international pressure to recognize and work toward ending environmental and human rights abuses. China will receive more and more international scrutiny as it develops and attempts to be recognized as a developed country.

The Olympics was a great example of how China reacts to interest. In hoping to dispel public opinion that China is a nation out of control – unable to control a economy gone wild and the threatening environmental issues – China spent millions in renovating Beijing and reversing years of environmental neglect. The hope is that this created a sustained culture that views the environment within the goal of development.

In a years time Shanghai will host the World’s Expedition with a focus on the environment and conservation efforts. I recently visited the Urban planning museum in Shanghai where there was a three story shrine to the planning and projected future projects for the Expedition. While most of it was propaganda aimed at creating national pride and what I think is a false sense of accomplishment (again here accomplishment of economy trumping all other affects of that economic growth), some of the plans were very impressive and the attention given to green buildings and sustainability were refreshing in a media environment that only centers on China’s growing environmental problems. Over one hundred years ago another city in the Midwest hosted the Worlds Expedition and was immediately catapulted to the status of one of the World’s great cities. Hopefully Shanghai will show the world a new China that recognizes both the successes and failures of the past, understands the present age and looks to the future to create a new path for development. If China and it’s growing economic centers continue to compare themselves only to the path of other industrialized nations China will be limited by that definition both psychologically and physically. However if they create they’re own path and own up to that path I think some really positive changes in the way we view development could take place.

As I sit in my dorm room I can see a devastating future just by rubbing my hand across my desk. I cleaned just a few days ago and already there is a layer of dust that has accumulated from the outside air. When will the dust accumulate to a point where there is no reversing it? My hope is that all countries will realize we don’t want to wait for that day, and that all of us have a role to play. China has the opportunity to show the world that it's not afraid to make a new path for development, one where environment and industrialization are not seen as opposing forces.