Thursday, June 5, 2008

Pollution in China


According to this Wharton's article, China has passed the U.S. as the world's largest emitter of carbon dioxide. Sure, China should be concerned about pollution, as some other developing countries.

This information should raise an alarm in the US too. The US has about 1/4 th the population of China. So, when making comparisons, the US is expected not to have more than ~ 25% of the carbon emissions of China - both countries are about the same size. So, the time for reflection/introspection for the US was when its carbon emissions exceeded 25% of that of China. Also, a significant part of Chinese pollution is caused by producing goods (plastics) for consumption in the US - technically, they are emissions of the US, merely produced at a different location.

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