In What Ways Is China’s Environmental Contamination a Globalized Problem? How can the United States Help China to Reduce Its Pollution?

“Too often when people say ‘not now’, they mean ‘never’.”

- Bobby Kennedy


It is already clear that global warming is a challenge that affects everyone in the world, and as such it is a dilemma that no single country can solve on its own. In order to overcome these trying circumstances the politics of the world will undoubtedly be changed and redefined. As controversial issues which in the past would have been considered to have been strictly national matters now have begun to take on greater global ramifications, the political boundaries of the world have begun to be blurred.[i] The manner in which China and the United States choose to pollute or protect their nations’ environments not only affect their own country but now holds larger implications and consequences on the rest of the world. Being one of the single greatest contributors to bringing about this state of environmental peril, by having consumed the largest amount of the world’s resources per capita, it is the United States’ global duty to take full responsibility for its past actions and assume a leadership role in resolving the climate crisis.[ii] As such it is imperative that the United States must work to prevent China from continuing to inflict further damages onto the environment. The United States can achieve this aim by first ensuring that American companies no longer play an active role in contributing to the illegal exportation of e-waste to China and other developing countries. Secondly, by making a number of progressively green policy changes within the U.S. thus enabling it to reestablish itself as the leading global example of an environmentally friendly green nation, the United States can inspire China along with other foreign nations to follow suit.
As the world stands witness to the enormous environmental destruction that is taking place within China it is important to bear in mind that as the repercussions of China’s environmental troubles extend far beyond its national borders, the responsibility to make an effort to resolve these now global problems do too. One such example of this is the United States’ growing concern over the catastrophic amounts of pollution that China’s new booming manufacturing economy is currently discharging into both the water and the air. The utter destruction of China’s Yellow River, as a result of the heavy industrialization the country has experienced over the last 30 years epitomizes the seriousness of this situation.
The Yellow River that had existed more or less peacefully for over 2,000 years, now in less than one lifetime has been contaminated so severely that 50% of the river has been determined to be biologically dead.[iii] The pollution of the river has had horrific effects on the Chinese people, with more than half of the Chinese population alone being dependent on the 15% of the river that reaches into northern china for their main source of water.[iv] The contamination of the water supply has been directly linked to the significant rise in cancer cases and birth complications for the populations of Chinese living within reasonable proximity of the river, now often referred to as “cancer villages”.[v] Moreover, the high toxicity level of the river has caused much of their fields to become infertile and poisons what limited crop supply they are able to cultivate.[vi] In addition to contributing to the deterioration of the Chinese people’s physical health, by ruining their lands they are essentially terminating their source of livelihood, since roughly 45 percent of Chinese still rely on agricultural labor as a means of survival.[vii] China, allowing its blossoming industrial economy to press on down this environmentally destructive path, at the cost of depriving its own people of clean water, is committing a definite violation of the human rights of millions of Chinese.
The United States is further displeased by the significant amount of pollutants that continue to be released into the air by China’s hundreds of coal driven factories. Consequently, nearly 25% of the pollution currently hovering in the air of Los Angeles, California, was produced by China and has since blown over to the United States.[viii] However, the Chinese feel no obligation to compromise their own economic productivity on behalf of the U.S., especially since the U.S. has not committed itself to making these very same sacrifices.[ix]
The Chinese government and leading manufacturers argue that the United States was able to industrialize and prosper throughout the 19th and 20th century without having to take more costly precautions to protect the environment.[x] Moreover, the United States still continues to produce seven times the amount of CO2 per capita as the Chinese.[xi] The Chinese insist that they too want to have the same opportunities to capitalize on the full potential of their now flourishing market. The United States on the other hand can only argue that the times have changed. The environmental situation has grown to become significantly more dire. Moreover, now is not a time to be placing blame but instead creating solutions.
Though, with the McKinsey Global Institute predicting that between 2007 to 2020 China alone will have produced a 32 percent jump in the global demand for energy, they too must hold themselves accountable for the ramifications of their actions.[xii] The U.S. having long since held the position of being the single largest consumer of the world’s resources per capita, must recognize and take responsibility for the enormous amount of environmental harm it too has done.[xiii] This is not a problem for select few. It is a problem for people of all races and nationalities. Nature is unaware of our political boundaries and as such the natural world flows without regard for our political landscape. Therefore it will require the support, efforts, sacrifices, and cooperation of all involved, if civilization will have a chance at correcting the chaos of the climate crisis.
However, history has proven that multinational environmental treaties can only go so far before they are held back by the political and economical self-interests of the countries involved. Additionally, with the rapid rate with which the earth’s climate is currently being threatened, society no longer has the luxury of time on its side. Mankind cannot afford to wait for the countries of the world to put their religious and political differences aside and finally work together. It has been a difficult enough challenge simply to persuade the various nations to agree to consider coming together to discuss the issues of global warming. Bearing this in mind as well as the trend of ineffectiveness that has historically resulted from previous attempts, such as the Kyoto Protocol, it would be extremely difficult and highly unlikely for all of the nations of the world to agree to an effective shared plan of action to combat the climate crisis.[xiv]
It is clear that in this time of crisis the world needs a leader. Having been the leading contributor in bringing about this catastrophic state of affairs, the United States has a moral obligation to the rest of the world to take on a proactive leadership role to correct global warming. It is imperative that the American people acknowledge the damages they have done and hold themselves accountable for their actions. They must do this not only by adopting other foreign power’s existing attempts to employ clean energy, but by pushing beyond and creating new more cost-efficient and effective methods to further the global movement of going green. By the United States dedicating all of its efforts and resources to transforming itself the ideal model of an environmentally sound nation, it will be able to set an unprecedented global example for going green. This will both inspire and inform other countries in how they can follow suit and emulate the United States model, just as so many of them did before in the case of democracy.[xv]
First and for most before the United States government needs to set a global example by taking greater measures towards restricting American e-waste recycling companies from engaging in the illegal exportation of e-waste from the U.S. to developing countries such as China. E-waste recycling companies are responsible for dissimilating discarded electronic equipment, extracting the potentially harmful and toxic pieces and disposing of them before recycling the remaining parts. The exportation of E-waste is prohibited because when these huge supplies of defected electronics are sold to corporations in China they are typically dismantled, any valuable metals or reusable computer chips and microprocessors removed and the remaining contaminated electronics are disposed of near farms and important sources of water.[xvi] These dumped electronics are extremely dangerous because they release hazardously large and uncontrolled quantities of mercury and cadmium which has resulted in a number of residences, Asian children in particular, in these affected areas to suffer brain damage, as well as many other serious medical ailments.[xvii] A recent investigation led by the United States Government Accountability Office discovered evidence of at least 43 American e-waste recycling companies were guilty of illegally exporting large shipments of harmful e-waste to various destinations throughout Asia.[xviii] Supreme, a New Jersey based e-waste recycler which reportedly deals with more than 100 million pounds e-waste annually, has been ranked by Recycling Today magazine as being the second largest company in the field of e-waste recycling, was among the 43 guilty corporations.
The United States cannot continue to criticize and reprimand China for violating the human rights of its people so long as the United States continues to permit American corporations to play an active role in contributing to the suffering and deprivation of the Chinese people. One way in which the U.S. must work to correct this injustice is by establishing and enforcing harsher punishments for Americans who participate in this illegal exportation of e-waste.
However, some economically conservative Americans continue to argue that we cannot afford to go green right now. To the contrary, I ardently believe that we cannot afford not to, now more than ever. A 2006 examination by China’s National Bureau of Statistics determined that the climate crisis in 2004 alone cost China 64 billion dollars, in medical problems, environmental destruction, and loss in productivity due to unbearably difficult pollution conditions.[xix]
Despite the pressing economic circumstances that have recently thrown the American people into a state of uncertainty and disarray, the United States government cannot continue to place the world’s climate crisis on the backburner. The economy will always experience ups and downs, but if the United States, and other political powers continue to fail to deal with this problem, they will absolutely be responsible for casting our natural environment into an irreversible state of devastation and disarray.
When gas prices reached an all time high in the U.S. in July of this year, the results were incredible. Though the steep increase in gas prices proved to be very financially burdensome for most Americans, it also contributed to bringing about a number of very progressive and beneficial changes in American industries and Americans’ daily way of life. As a result of these soaring gas prices green businesses were able to experience unprecedented levels of success.[xx] The promotion and expansion of a new industry field built around clean energy and the production of environmentally friendly products is the perfect example of a new frontier of employment that would be extremely vital to the U.S., and would be a direct result of the U.S. adopting a green initiative.
California has succeeded in already establishing itself as the finest model of a progressive American state that is fully committed to going green. Moreover, they have demonstrated that going green has actually been able to benefit the state economy of California. In the fall of 2006 Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger made a legal pledge to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent in California by the year 2020. Additionally, Governor Schwarzenegger continues to campaign against any future attempts for offshore drilling along the state’s coastline. The Governor has set in place a number of extremely effective government incentives to reward those state utility corporations that have made a direct effort to reduce the amount of energy they consume and the levels of pollutants they produce.[xxi] With Bush administration’s refusal to endorse an international treaty to combat the climate crisis until developing countries like China begin capping their emissions, it has made it abundantly clear that uniting the United States through a green effort is not a national priority for their administration.[xxii] However, the enormous influence that Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s own green initiative has been able have not only within the state of California but on a nationalized level during this absence in national leadership, gives Americans a glimpse of what the U.S. could potentially be able to achieve for the environment globally. California is setting an example for both how the rest of the U.S. can and should work towards correcting the climate crisis, as well as creating a superb example for how inspirational and influential the U.S. could be if it became the cutting edge model of a clean energy sufficient country for the rest of the world.
Furthermore, times of extraordinary crisis bring with them extraordinary opportunities. When dozens of countries were thrust into the dark realities of the First World War, they were forced to invent, and construct solutions to problems unlike any they had ever known before. Yet from this state of urgency and chaos came many of the most revolutionary medical, technological, political, and economical achievements ever before performed by man. In the same way we will soon see many new extraordinary opportunities arise from the ashes of the United States’ current credit crisis. Similarly we will witness fabulous opportunities being seized by nations’, companies’, and individuals’ efforts to resolve the climate crisis. For as Napoleon Bonaparte so accurately said, “How many things apparently impossible have nevertheless been achieved by resolute men who had no alternative but death”.[xxiii] Going green will not only be a chance for the U.S. to improve its environment, but its economy, politics, and overall quality of life as well.
In order to for the United States to achieve its desired level of green success and be able to inspire change and action within other foreign nations during this current financial crisis it must be adamant in driving home the seriousness and absolute urgency of this political matter. The government must be unwavering and steadfast in upholding and enforcing its new green policies. When the U.S. government is obligated to give the automobile industry a bailout they must to be sure to enforce much more severe auto-emission standards on all new cars being produced in America. They must insist on car companies making full transition into manufacturing smaller, cleaner, and more efficient hybrid cars instead of the tank like, gas guzzling SUVs most Americans have become notoriously renowned for driving around in today. In addition the United States government needs to demand that all U.S. based utility companies adhere to a higher standard of employing environmentally sound approaches to providing their resources to their clientele. With regard to construction, the U.S. government must implement very strict standards requiring that all new development projects be LEEDS (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified. The government should provide certain incentives for developers that are willing and able to begin building again this bleak real-estate market, as well as for developers that choose to excel beyond the LEEDS standard and achieve either a Gold or Platinum level of LEEDS certification. Lastly, the government must require recycling in all U.S. cities.
This is a problem that is not going away. So it is no longer a question of if, it is now just a question of who and when? If the U.S. does not act quickly it will be left behind as a decaying political power of the past, just as so many once glorious empires have fallen before it; while the rest of the world works towards reverting the climate crisis and achieving a healthier quality of life. However, the catastrophic consequences of its inactivity would not stop there. If larger countries like China and the United States do not take serious measures to correcting the environmental destruction that is taking place within their own countries they will not only harm their own people but they will invariably bring down the rest of the world down with them. America has a moral responsibility to the rest of humanity to start regarding the climate crisis as a matter of the utmost concern. As such the United States must commit itself to making the necessary sacrifices to the U.S. economy in order to ensure the planet’s survival. The U.S. must rise to the occasion and take it upon itself to become the dominant motivating force in both correcting the harm that man has been inflicted on the world’s natural environment and preventing further environmental destruction.

[i] Complete Transcript Crisis Guide: Climate Change, pg.4
[ii] Hot, Flat, and Crowded, pg.176
[iii] Bitter Water, pg.2
[iv] Bitter Water, pg.1
[v] Bitter Water, pg.2
[vi] Bitter Water, pg.3
[vii] Where We Work- China, pg.2
[viii] The Power of Green, pg.7
[ix] Talks John Doerr: Seeking Salvation and Profit in Greentech
[x] The Power of Going Green
[xi] Talks John Doerr: Seeking Salvation and Profit in Greentech
[xii] The Birth of Giant Market, pg.2
[xiii] National Security Consequences of U.S. Oil Dependency, pg.23
[xiv] Complete Transcript Crisis Guide: Climate Change, pg.3,6
[xv] Hot, Flat, and Crowded, pg.176
[xvi] The Dirty Secret of Recycling Electronics
[xvii] The Dirty Secret of Recycling Electronics
[xviii] Energy and Commerce Committee Investigates Adequacy of EPA E-waste Regulations
[xix] The Power of Green, pg.7
[xx] Bailout and Buildup, pg.1
[xxi] The Governor’s Green Agenda, pg.2
[xxii] Gov. Put Regional Focus on Global Problems
[xxiii] Napoleon Bonaparte