|
|
Two Chinese businessmen walk into an international airport smoking room
crowded with Western men puffing on cigars. The two Chinese are about to light
up when one suit-wearing smoker turns and barks: "Do you mind?"
This is an old analogy used to illustrate the hypocrisy of some in the West
who blame China for the world's pollution woes.
They blame China as it quickly develops to provide its citizens with a
better quality of life. But developed countries are "developed" because their
factories have been polluting the sky for more than 200 years.
Critics still blame China as it builds new cities with modern homes,
running water, sewage systems, transport infrastructure, schools and hospitals,
just as their countries did.
They blame China as it serves the needs of hundreds of millions of farmers
moving from the land to the cities in the biggest urbanization program in human
history. No nation has ever had to do this before, and the challenges are highly
complicated.
Communities are like three-legged tables, held up by environmental, social
and economic supports. The three are closely linked and affect the stability of
the community.
The rampant rise in dirty factories fueled by economic development not only
pollutes the air and waterways but also creates ghettos crammed with factory
workers and the resulting social problems.
If one table leg is longer than the others, the table is unbalanced and
society is far from harmonious.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told China Daily last month her
country and Europe "didn't know any better" about protecting the environment
during their industrialization and development, and urged the Chinese not to
make the same mistakes they did.
The Chinese people, from the Environment Minister down to grass-roots
citizens, know change must come. And they are learning from their own mistakes,
too.
After people protested over work on a $1.4 billion chemical factory near
Xiamen, Fujian province, the project was halted and the local environmental
agency was planning to review a proposal to relocate the plant to a neighboring
city.
Deputy Environment Minister Zhang Lijun recently admitted serious problems
remained in China and that local governments were not putting enough pressure on
businesses to control pollution. His ministry is powerful and environmental laws
have been toughened, but enforcement still relies on local officials and not
enough has been done to fix China's air, lakes and rivers.
Local officials face a conflict of interest because heavily polluting
industries offer more jobs and more taxes, which allow local governments to
improve their regions - but at what cost?
A report from Zhang's department revealed nearly a quarter of the
monitoring stations along China's major rivers found water quality was "worse"
than ever, while another survey of five cities said the average air quality in
two ranged from "polluted" to "hazardous".
London's Great Smog of 1952 is an extreme example of how this situation can
go from bad to worse. More than 12,000 Londoners died as a result of the
five-day catastrophe. The city's undertakers ran out coffins and it forced the
British government to pass the original Clean Air Act.
This is a tragedy no nation wants to repeat.
Patrick Whiteley is a senior editor with China Daily
E-mail: patwhiteley@yahoo.com |
|
发表于 2016-7-9 23:59:36