I'm OK... for now

For the last few months the New York Times has been publishing a series of articles titled “Choking on Growth” to shed light on China’s ongoing struggle to balance economic development with environmental protection. These lengthy articles are full of stories and interesting facts demonstrating the massive scale of pollution China currently creates as its coal-powered factories continue to blacken the sky, chemical waste is dumped into rivers, and the growing middle class takes to the road on four wheels. It’s a very informative series with some actual jaw-dropping statistics.

However, the latest article in the series, talking about Beijing’s not so blue skies, went a bit overboard. The facts were not fabricated, like they sometimes are in Chinese news publications, but the tone of the article was extremely out of line. The language used to describe Beijing’s pollution problem made it sound as if I was living in a nuclear winter with a low chance of survival. My mother’s coworkers persuaded her to call me to make sure I was OK. I told her that there was nothing unusual going on here, Beijing is often polluted, in fact, the situation has improved since I first came to China.

The author referred to environmental progress as “illusory” and the validity of Beijing’s pollution rating system as a “common” concern, which seems irresponsible to me. After reading this diatribe of speculation and skepticism, clearly playing the tune of anti-Chinese sentiment, I felt a deep sense of disappoint in my favorite source of current information. Clearly, living in Beijing, you learn to smell bullshit a mile away, but I was naïve to ever believe that an American free and independent journalist wasn’t capable of producing widespread propaganda.

This is how I see it. The Chinese journalist writes propaganda because that is his job. He is an employee of the government, and must focus on or omit certain stories and details to propagate the policies and morals of the Communist Party while ensuring social stability. In the US, we take pride in our ideals, especially the freedom of speech, and expect our media to report as a free and independent entity without any agenda. But journalists are individuals from all different backgrounds, races, religions, and nationalities and to write without showing personal bias is no easy task. The New York Times is an American newspaper, and the majority of the journalists are Americans with American families. With pollution becoming a global issue and China becoming for the first time this year the largest emitter of CO2, those American families are starting to feel threatened by this detrimental trend in the Far East. Consequently, American journalists like to spout nationalistic propaganda to paint a picture of an irresponsible and menacing China that must be dealt with and pressured to change their ways…

That’s were my logic begins to contradict. On one hand, every country has the right to develop. Every person has the inalienable right to live a healthy life and purse happiness and prosperity for him and his family. The West does not have the power to restrict a developing country from growing at a certain rate that creates a certain amount of pollution. In fact, it’s awfully hypocritical to even suggest emission caps for a country like China considering most factories (China’s largest source of pollution) are foreign owned or make products for foreigners, primarily for Americans. China is the world’s factory, and Americans and Europeans have blue skies and clean water not because we have policies and standards supported by our developed economies, but because most of our industry no longer exists at home. And to deny a family a car, just doesn’t seem very American to me. Yes, we will continue to create awareness about the need for energy efficiencies and public transportation networks but unless you want Chinese people to stop supporting their families and stop producing the things we need to live, then you should think twice about blaming China for being in a pollution crisis.

On the other hand, if China and India continues to develop at this rate for the next few decades and the world economy continues to demand the production of goods and commodities to a richer and hungrier proliferating world population, the Earth will become less and less inhabitable. As glaciers melt away the world’s rivers (especially the Ganges, Yellow, and Yangtze), parts of China and India (2.4 billion people) will turn into a wasteland without water, Earth’s gift to man. Sea levels will rise, eliminating whole countries, drowning financial centers, and sparking wars as refugees from the coast overwhelm neighboring countries. Famine, Poverty, War, Disease, Annihilation. A global catastrophe of this magnitude is sadly more than likely, but inevitable unless we as humans change our ways….

But how? The Chinese will continue to provide for their families without any concern for global warming. Americans will continue to consume what the Chinese produce and only “think” about using green technology as long as certain lobbyists and politicians are in bed together. Awareness is the first step, but to point fingers at any one country like China is ludicrous, unhelpful, and should be construed as irrational journalism (that’s why there is an editorial section).

I am afraid, as a human race, we developed too fast. We found a source of energy that gave us a better life, but would eventually take it away. It’s a cynical view of the future - I will continue to cogitate and brainstorm possible preventative actions against this seemingly inevitable Armageddon, but I must go now and pick up my shirts at the dry cleaners.