Beijing water troubles

[STANG RED]

Ran across this article this morning and just thought I'd share it.

The Water Crisis Looming
Over Beijing
By Tom Dyson

One morning last spring, millions of people in eastern China woke up to find stinking, green sludge oozing from their taps. It looked like blended seaweed and gave off a rotten odor that choked them if they got too close...

Lake Tai is China's third-largest lake. It's in the Jiangsu province, near the East Coast of China, 70 miles upstream from Shanghai. About 30 million Chinese rely on Lake Tai for drinking water. But in May 2007, pollution caused an algae bloom to cover the lake.

For 10 days, 2 million people who live on the shores of Lake Tai had no drinking water. It caused a panic. The price of a two-gallon jug of bottled water in the nearby city of Wuxi jumped from $1 to $6.50 overnight.

For hundreds of years, the locals considered Lake Tai the most beautiful place in China. It held so many fish, they tickled your ankles when you dipped your feet in the water. The richest people in China moved here and built stunning gardens on its banks.

But over the last half century, the shores of Lake Tai have turned into an industrial zone. Thousands of paper mills poured toxic chemicals into the water... so did cement factories, chemical plants, and textile companies. These chemicals killed the fish and removed all the oxygen from the water.

Now the rivers and tributaries that flow from the lake run red or black... and local workers won't tend to their rice paddies without heavy gloves because the water peels away their skin.

[AP Panther Fan]

Originally posted by STANG RED
and local workers won't tend to their rice paddies without heavy gloves because the water peels away their skin.


that should give people a warm and fuzzy about eating their rice....

[BwdLions]

They're making all the products for our country over there so I guess there'd be a polution problem. I guess that's the main reason we don't as much polution in the USA anymore. We import almost everything we use from China.

[wimbo_pro]

China definitely pollutes at an alarming rate...the hopeful thing about it is this...

As they gain more wealth, their people will demand better living conditions, and we (the consumer West) will demand they improve on their environmental records and human rights performance. Like Japan in the late 60's, they seem to have it all going their way right now...but they will have to answer to the people and the world soon, making their products not as cheap in comparison. Japan used to pay 1/10th the wages of the U.S. Now, they are equal if not more. Notice how Japans products arent so cheap anymore?

[Mcguirk]

I've worked in and with manufacturing all my life. I don't want to say American Industry is saddled with too much regualtion because I've seen employers do things they knew were wrong not caring who they hurt. Things are much better now, but with the added safety and pollution controls comes added cost.
(Stang Red-ask the gypsum mills how much they spend a year in filters to keep dust out of the West Texas sky. It's in millions.)
I don't think China cares now or will ever care. There are so many people, I believe most of the manufacturing base can name the pay and working conditions and have a take it or leave it attitude. And I may be old school, but I think the sanctity of life is lower in China too. Look at what they do to a girl if she is the firstborn child.
They are still a communist government also, and rule with an iron fist. The army still has the weapons and the people are powerless. If you don't believe it study Tiananmen Square, and see how the army went from "lets all be friends here" to "kill the dissidents". I think they will sacrifice anyone and anything to be THE world power. They're doing it now by taking the manufacturing base and the money that comes with it. Workers and pollution be darned. Many are becoming upwardly mobile, but they will be sacrificed in a heartbeat if necessary to further the communist (or government) agenda.
Sorry to go George Patton on everyone and be so long winded, but I'm worried about our country and the people who will sell our souls for a buck. I believe that as the manufacturing base goes so goes the heart of the country. GOD bless America and GOD bless Texas!:redxpoke:

[JR2004]

Originally posted by Mcguirk
Sorry to go George Patton on everyone

If only our government had listened to Patton and Churchill.

[wimbo_pro]

Well said McGuirk,

You could be right...OR...the progress in all the areas that we have seen in China over the last 20 years will continue, and the more engaged and dependent THEY become on US, the more they will see things our way.

Who's right? I dunno...but I DO know there is something to go one here, based on what has happened in the recent past. Maybe we are heading down the best road possible, seeing as how the other choices we have would be to isolate and antagonize them, which we also have a history to look at regarding this tactic...it didnt work at all!!!!

[Mcguirk]

Originally posted by wimbo_pro
Well said McGuirk,

You could be right...OR...the progress in all the areas that we have seen in China over the last 20 years will continue, and the more engaged and dependent THEY become on US, the more they will see things our way.

Who's right? I dunno...but I DO know there is something to go one here, based on what has happened in the recent past. Maybe we are heading down the best road possible, seeing as how the other choices we have would be to isolate and antagonize them, which we also have a history to look at regarding this tactic...it didnt work at all!!!!

You are 100% correct about isolation and antagonizing them. Hasn't worked in the past.Though I'm not opposed to antagonizing them as a bargaining tool. But we don't even have that option to fall on. Several months ago congress started rattling sabres about barriers and tarifs. China's finance minister released a statement that roughly said "OK go ahead, but if you do we will have to dump the trillion or so dollars worth of treasury notes we hold. See how that turns out for ya." We backed down immediately.
This stuff is nothing new. One of the complaints of
pre-revolutionary war British merchants was the fact that the colonies held an unfair advantage over them and could manufacture goods cheaper. And see how tariffs and taxes turned out for them.
There are still several things that could derail them including their banking system. I hope they do turn out like Japan and progress, but the Japanese were using America as it's business model, and the Chinese still use Mao.
Anyway, how about some football? We made the trip to Wimberly a couple of years ago when Wylie played there. The people there were some of the friendliest opposing fans I've ever met. Of course you won that one!