As the Chinese economy soars, her impact on the environment is being felt around the world. The Chinese people are not yet consumers of energy at the same level per capita as North Americans or Europeans, but one quarter of the Earth’s population makes big impact.
Roughly every week, China opens a new coal-fired power plant to provide electricity to factories and homes. These power plants are driven with older-style, more-polluting equipment than those in the western world.
Smoke has drifted as a black cloud over Korea and made its way across the Pacific where it has been detected in the United States. Although the Chinese government is aware of the problems this is causing, they are afraid to do anything about it.
The Chinese people are emerging from centuries of poverty and embracing the affluent lifestyle of the west. They want the benefits and material goods that electric power can bring them. The government, in the interest of domestic pacification, wants to provide them with that power as cheaply as possible.
If nothing is done, China will soon be darkening global skies with her carbon waste and CO2 gasses, equaling the pollution of North America, Europe and Japan combined. Already, sulfur spewed into the atmosphere from burning coal has had an ironic effect on the environment. Flecks of sulfur are deflecting the sun’s rays and slowing global warming. This benefit is only temporary as greenhouse gasses will build up beneath this shield and ultimately heat up the planet with full and sudden force..
If the West wants to insure that China makes wiser environmental choices, it must provide that nation with the funds necessary to buy less-polluting equipment for their power plants. This can come in the form of loans from the World Bank or as direct assistance from wealthier nations.
With the downturn in the economy, citizens of most Western nations have little patience with giving aid to developing countries, even if that help has direct impact on their own health and well-being. The chances of China making meaning-strong environment choices without such aid are bleak.