China Is Imploding

[Playinghardball]

China is imploding and it knows it. China is imploding under its own pollution of dark mercury laced clouds and the stench of its chemical and waste tainted water.

A fourth of the country is now desert. More than three-fourths of its forests have disappeared. Acid rain falls on a third of China's landmass, tainting soil, water, and food. Excessive use of groundwater has caused land to sink in at least 96 Chinese cities, producing an estimated $12.9 billion in economic losses in Shanghai alone. Each year, uncontrollable underground fires, sometimes triggered by lightning and mining accidents, consume 200 million tons of coal, contributing massively to global warming. A miasma of lead, mercury, sulfur dioxide, and other elements of coal-burning and car exhaust hovers over most Chinese cities; of the world's 20 most polluted cities, 16 are Chinese.

The government estimates that 400,000 people die prematurely from respiratory illnesses each year, and health care costs for premature death and disability related to air pollution is estimated at up to 4 percent of the country's gross domestic product. Four-fifths of the length of China's rivers are too polluted for fish. Half the population—600 or 700 million people—drinks water contaminated with animal and human waste. Into Asia's longest river, the Yangtze, the nation annually dumps a billion tons of untreated sewage; some scientists fear the river will die within a few years.

China's air pollution was monitored from space by the US and the results are telling.
The figures provided [] reveal telling trends for PM 2.5 data in China. All but four provinces (excluding Taiwan) have average annual exposures to PM 2.5 above levels recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO)

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/02/28/1066097/-China-Is-Imploding?via=sidebyuserrec

[Robeysays]

1. "Every province in china like greece."

http://www.forbes.com/sites/robertlenzner/2011/07/11/chinas-debt-160-of-its-gdp-just-like-greece/


old news but relevant.

[CAPHAVOC]

14. Bring back the Old World Order...

This NWO sucks.

[Warpy]

2. Considering what Beijing had to do to clean up the air for a few weeks for the Olympics,

I'm not surprised that things are so terrible there. I remember what the air was like in the eastern US in winter when coal furnaces were used for central heat. Coal is nasty enough, and the Chinese use blocks of compressed high sulfur coal dust for cooking and heat, probably the dirtiest form of a dirty fuel out there.

China is pouring resources into research into alternate energy sources and eventually they are likely to get things cleaned up considerably. For now, there's not much they can do, coal is king and it's killing them.

[geardaddy]

28. I lived in Beijing in '84-85 and can attest to how much it sucked

as far as coal use. I used to blow my nose and it came out all black.

[Uncle Joe]

3. I do hope they manage to turn it around, the world could ill afford

an imploded China.

Thanks for the thread, Playinghardball.

[freshwest]

4. Terrible. I'd read some of this in bits and pieces, but puting it all together... Wow.

[Webster Green]

5. Is there any place on this planet that isn't imploding?

I think not.

[Zalatix]

7. Iceland?

We've got our own environmental problems, to hell with pointing fingers at China.

[sharp_stick]

9. Yeah

because it's so much easier to lock yourself off and pretend the rest of the world doesn't matter.

[MoonRiver]

11. I'm not trying to attack you personally, but,

when is Iceland going to stop killing whales? This is a very serious issue to most of the civilized world. Whales are on a par with humans in terms of their brains. Killing and eating them is practically akin to cannabalism.

[Zalatix]

18. Nothing personal there. I agree about whaling although I would bring up aboriginal whaling

which is far different from commercial whaling.

[MoonRiver]

21. I don't agree with either one.

But since you seem to be Icelandic, I was wondering if you knew if Iceland plans to end this barbaric practice.

[Zalatix]

22. Not an Icelander; I just study various countries.

Any native Icelanders here?

[Lydia Leftcoast]

29. I was in Iceland this past summer

and one of our tour guides said that whaling is declining. The government has refused to issue any more permits for catching large whales and has reduced the quota for minke whales.

Furthermore, private interests are realizing that taking tourists out to see live whales has more of a future than killing whales.

So there is hope.

[MoonRiver]

35. VERY good news!

Thanks Lydia!

[madrchsod]

16. yup ..one of these days iceland will explode

from what i`ve read it will be a the end of the world as we know it.

[Leftist Agitator]

31. Ah, yes...

Ragnarok.

[DCBob]

6. I had a colleague from China who many years ago predicted this would happen eventually.

China is still a backward repressive nation with policies that are more about protecting the communist party than about the future of country and its people. There are so many critical issues that threaten the viablility China. The only thing holding it together is incredibly low cost labor and tremendous demand for their cheap junk.

[Junkdrawer]

8. It's cool. They can always buy as much of the US as they need....

They're buying up our infrastructure as we speak.

Negative Balance of Trade: Sooner or later, there will be consequences.

[seabeyond]

10. wow. amazing. thanks for the info. i had no clue it was that bad. nt

[orwell]

12. If we keep voting for these Cons in Congress...

...we won't be far behind.

Welcome to your deregulated libertarian paradise...

[Jonny]

13. A Perfect Role Model

Republicans and Conservatives like me envy China and it's unabashed destruction of people, the environment, and the planet in pursuit of capital gain. If only we here in the United States could remove every last environmental and labor protection law, we would be glorious, just like China. But the damn bleeding heart liberals get in our way! Impeach Obama!

[Systematic Chaos]

15. Welcome to DU.

Looks like your snark will fit right in!

[benld74]

17. They have no infrastructure per se,

sewers, septic tanks, water systems,,,,

[Honeycombe8]

19. And we're buying FOOD from that filthy, toxic-laden place. Lead is all over the place there. nt

[my2sense]

32. Scary isn't it?

That was my first thought.

[nadinbrzezinski]

20. You mean lack of labor and environmental protections are bad?

Problem is that climactic change is real so it will not just stay in their borders.

Next time I see data though that shows this effect I will abstain from the posting part. Unless, that is, if CNN picks it up.

But reality is we are close to that level of denial here.

[90-percent]

23. Cheap Chinese goods

I wonder how cheap their stuff will be when they turn their vast polluted lands into SUPERFUND CLEAN UP SITES?

Cleaning pollution of this magnitude is going to be EXPENSIVE. 3/4 of it's forests disappeared! That is massive, especially happening in a relatively short period of time.

I don't think this will end good.

-90% Jimmy

[jwirr]

27. It kind of seems like it could be our next bubble. Without there goods - what are we going to sell?

[snagglepuss]

24. What is the likelihood of China becoming aggressive given this scenario?

[riderinthestorm]

25. Savvy economists have always been up in the air whether India or China will ascend

to the next global hegemony. Sounds like it may be leaning towards India now....

[bvar22]

26. Why do you hate the Chinese "Job Creators".

We can have the same thing here too
if we can get all the Business Killing "Regulations" OFF the BACKS of our Job Creators!

[just1voice]

30. Add 200+ million people who live in slave labor conditions

whom are thoroughly exploited by the U.S. as well so we can buy cheap toxic crap. Most of the time when I see "Made in China" I do not purchase the item, knowing full well that slave labor likely manufactured it.

[Jennicut]

33. I feel for their people.

Especially the children there. There has to be tons of health problems in China due to the pollution. Very sad.

[Sheepshank]

34. But hey, they don't have an EPA and apparently we don't need no stinking EPA either (per baggers)nt