China has gone through industrialization in the past twenty years that many developing countries needed one hundred years to complete. Yet, this breakneck speed has led to widespread environmental degradation; the damage to the ecosystem costs China about nine percent of its GDP (Gross Domestic Product), according to the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).

 

 

 

“This cuts to the heart of China’s economic challenge: how to transform from the explosive growth of the past 30 years to the sustainable growth of the next 30,” said Lee So Young (Sociology), actinties sociology. “A lot of the activities in China over the last few years have been ignoring the externalities of economic growth, and the costs could be even higher than the ministry’s estimate,” she said. The estimated figure is incomplete because the researchers did not have a full set of data. Making such calculations is “notoriously difficult,” Lee said.

 

 

The Chinese government has placed a greater concern on environmental issues and creating sustainable growth. An increasing number of people in China are now starting to demand government to take proper measures in order to combat against the diseases and deadly effects of the polluted environment. However, one of the fundamental problems is that environmental regulations are largely ignored; environmental regulators do not have sufficient authority and resources to overcome the forces that are causing the pollution.

 

 

 

The Airpocalypse
Outdoor air pollution causes more than 1.2 million premature deaths in China. According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency's air quality scale, any pollution scoring above 300 means the air is unsafe to breathe. Under these conditions, people should stay indoors with an air purifier running and remain as motionless as possible. Yet, in January alone, there were 19 days when Beijing surpassed that 300 threshold; on January 12, it even reached 886, a condition similar to living inside a smoking lounge.

 

 

 

Urban air pollution is expected to be the top environmental cause of mortality worldwide by 2050, ahead of dirty water and lack of sanitation. It estimated that up to 3.6 million people could end up dying prematurely from air pollution each year, mostly in China. Lee Sung Min (’12, Chinese Language and Literature) said, “From my experience of living in China for several years, China is facing an environmental crisis. Beijing’s air quality fluctuates with the weather — a strong wind from the north can blow the smog to sea.”

 

 

 

As a nation with 1.3 billion people, 19 percent of humanity, and three-plus decades of annual economic growth averaging about 10 percent, it was hard not to see the place that had not been touched by human beings. One noticeable example is that air pollutants from China are now reaching around the world. Dust, ozone, carbon monoxide and mercury polluted into the atmosphere in China are now regularly settling back to Earth spreading to other continents. Especially in Korea, people experience and suffer from the huge dust storms that had blown in from China.

 

 

The underlying causes are dynamic and diverse: power plants, small factories, automobile emissions, rampant construction, farmers burning coal for heat, but most experts primarily blame the coal-burning electrical plants that contribute most to China’s rapid economic growth. China burns 47 percent of the world’s coal, roughly equal to the amount used by all other countries of the world combined.

 

 

 

For years, Chinese officials had been collecting the data but refusing to release it, until they came under pressure from the public. The Chinese officials have made some progress in disclosing crucial air pollution statistics, making strict environment policies as well.

 

 

 

However, what the leaders neglect to say is that infighting within the government bureaucracy is one of the biggest obstacles to enacting stronger environmental policies. Even as some officials push for tighter restrictions on pollutants, state-owned enterprises — especially China’s oil and power companies — have been putting profits ahead of health in working to outflank new rules. Another problem is the low penalties: fines are generally capped around 16,000 dollas, not much of a deterrent.

 

 

 

The Waterpocalypse
There have also been constant concerns over water pollution. The water quality in five of the nine bays along China’s coast was “extremely poor.” Results from monitoring stations along 10 major river basins show that 40 percent of the water is polluted. And 55 percent of the underground water in 200 cities is contaminated. On top of that, about 300 million rural residents do not have access to safe drinking water.

 

 

 

Especially, in January, a chemical accident leaked benzene, a known cancer-causing substance, into the Huangpu River. More than 20 people were hospitalized as a result, and area residents were forced to rely on fire trucks to deliver safe drinking water. “Recalling the incident, the water was all sold out in the supermarket, from panic buying. The price has gone up too,” said Wang Yang Ren, one exchange student from China. “We could not flush our toilet and could not cook at home. The restaurants were out of water, too.”

 

 

More than half of China's surface water is so polluted that it cannot be treated to make it drinkable. Furthermore, one-quarter of it is so dangerous that it cannot even be used for industrial purposes. Groundwater is not safe anymore; about 40 percent of China’s farmland relies on underground water for irrigation, and an estimated 90 percent is polluted. About 60 percent of the groundwater beneath Chinese cities is described as “severely polluted”.

 

Farmers in a village in Henan Province were using wastewater from a paper mill to grow wheat. But one farmer said they would not dare to eat the wheat themselves. It is sold outside the village, perhaps ending up in cities, while the farmers grow their own wheat with well water.

 

 

 

Cancer villages
Perhaps no other issue underscores China’s reckless disregard for environmental and public health more than the existence of “cancer villages,” entire towns that have been written off as so polluted that simply living there is a cancer risk.

 

 

 

For years, individuals and groups have waged a desperate campaign to force the government to address and acknowledge the high rates of stomach, liver, kidney and colon cancer in certain areas, usually adjacent to heavy industrial complexes.

 

 

In Shangba, a city in southern Guangdong province, the river that flows through town changes from white to a startling shade of orange because of varying types of industrial effluent, Reuters reports. Many of the river's contaminants, like cadmium and zinc, are known to cause cancer. All the fish died, even chickens and ducks that drank from the river died. It is known that if one puts his or her leg in the water, the person will get rashes and a terrible itch.

 

 

In February, China’s environment ministry noted that chemicals and heavy metals banned in other countries are found throughout China. The ministry stated that there are “some serious cases of health and social problems like the emergence of cancer villages in individual regions,” marking the first official admission of the problem that has plagued the country for decades.

 

 

 

Can China Change?
Chinese officials often say that China has the right to grow its economy as it wants, and that the United States (U.S.) should not wag fingers over China’s environmental impact since the U.S. spent many years growing its economy without thinking of the consequences. Even now, the carbon footprint per capita in the U.S. is still bigger than that of China. Do the Chinese have a valid point?

 

Yes, that is a valid argument. Before the U.S. recession, China’s average carbon footprint was between one-quarter and one-sixth of the average U.S. carbon footprint (depending on how one calculates it). More importantly, Chinese are much poorer than Americans. In 2011, China’s average per-capita income was less than $4,000, one-eleventh of the U.S. average. In practice, this means that people do not have many of the things Americans are used to — private vehicles, heated and cooled homes, the opportunity to travel internationally — and they are looking forward to those things. Another valid argument, however, is that every nation faces different challenges as they develop. Experts point out that dealing with climate change, which might require slower economic growth, might be the burden China needs to bear.

 

Given decades of environmental neglect and China’s heavy reliance on coal, that produces 70 percent of the country’s energy, it would be difficult to produce a dramatic improvement quickly. Nevertheless, the Chinese government should take a comprehensive approach to environmental protection by adopting tougher environmental standards, changing their economic policy, increasing investment in the environment, and mobilizing the press and civil society to take part in these efforts.

 

To be sure, the case for decisive and quick action is compelling. The question is whether China’s ruling party will actually act, both for the long-term survival of the country and itself.