China had a cruddy eco-year, still sees big picture more clearly than the U.S.

Year of the Draggin'

In China, officials are assessing their 2006 eco-successes. The short version: there were none. The somewhat longer version: the country saw a pollution-related accident roughly every two days. Officials got 600,000 environmental complaints, 30 percent more than in 2005. Goals to improve efficiency by 4 percent and cut emissions by 2 percent were missed by all but six provinces or municipalities in the first half of the year; full stats aren't out yet. Industry flouted laws, building facilities without approval and dumping toxic waste. It was, says State Environmental Protection Administration Deputy Director Pan Yue, "the most grim year for China's environmental situation." On the upside, the agency announced it won't OK new power plants by four leading utilities until current projects are brought up to snuff. Oh wait, that won't ... uh ... well, SEPA also said the "environmental problem has become a key bottleneck for social and economic development." Recognizing those ties? Priceless.

straight to the source: Houston Chronicle, Associated Press, 11 Jan 2007

straight to the source: BBC News, 10 Jan 2007

straight to the source: International Herald Tribune, Associated Press, 10 Jan 2007

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Comments: (2 comments)

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Adding a level of complexity to the story

Good post! To add to it, we should note that as part of the background, the Chinese economy grew around 10% again, and millions of new jobs were added.

So, the failures, while bad, need to be seen in the light that the increase in problems was less than the increase in the economy.

For a developing country, this is almost kinda a success story. It isn't, because things really do need to get better.

It is, because more of the mechanisms for improvement are in place. However, the devil, as always, is in carrying them out.

If you follow the Chinese official press (China Daily and the People's Daily)

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/

by bookerly at 9:39 PM on 11 Jan 2007

Ooo, I got cut off.

Here's the rest of my post...

http://english.people.com.cn/

If you follow these publications, you will see some fairly stark writing about the problems and choices that need to be made. Recognizing problems is the first step towards solving them! You will also see glimmers and rays of hope.

The developing world seems to be more aware of what is coming than the developed world, there aren't always great solutions, but there is less denial.

If we all work together, maybe we can push that rock up the hill!

patrick

by bookerly at 9:52 PM on 11 Jan 2007

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