See the article of John Kennedy in SCMP
http://www.scmp.com/comment/blogs/article/1139077/china-now-matches-rest-world-combined-annual-coal-consumption
and also:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/01/29/china-is-burning-nearly-as-much-coal-as-the-rest-of-the-world-combined/
China burned through 325 million more tons of coal in 2011 than in 2010, according to the US Energy Information Administration, and consumption of the fossil fuel has grown an average of 9% since 2000. China’s coal use grew 9% in 2011, rising to 3.8 billion tons. At this point, the country is burning nearly as much coal as the rest of the world combined (4.3 billion tons).
China, but also the world, is paying the price for using China as “factory of the world”. Everybody complains about China burning so much coal, but what do you expect from a continent with 1.3 billion people mass-producing all the gadgets and other consumer items the West loves to buy at a cheaper than cheaper price, generating so much waste? It is the orgy of overconsumption. To manufacture, we need energy. To make improve the life of the Chinese people, we need more energy.
We should consume less but go for better quality and durability, and impose environmental and labor laws on the supply chain – while paying a fair price. We have to stop the vicious cycle of overconsumption. Otherwise, the West should shut up and be less hypocritical. Read “Toxic capitalism”!
Consumer & Environment Issues
consumer analysis and impact on environment
Do we really need so many clothes?
Interesting article in China Daily – as I mention in my book, do we really need so many clothes? So many pairs of jeans, shoes, suits, dresses? Look into your wardrobe and ask yourself how much of all those clothes you actually use, and how often. I always tell family and friends, please don’t buy me more stuff (even if “it was on sales and so cheap”). I think I have enough for a couple of years. Knowing what it takes to get a jeans or even a T-shirt, the need for cotton, other fibers, the water and energy to produce it all. Not even to talk about the factories where workers slave to make it. And are fortunate not to get work-related diseases or die in a factory fire. The point here is not to make them lose their jobs but at least to pay them a reasonable salary and give them humane working conditions. We buy less but pay more.
When less is more: Tiffany Tan explores the “capsule wardrobe”; “With consumerism and fast fashion booming in China, Tiffany Tan susses out if the Chinese are ready for capsule wardrobes – a collection of only a few essential pieces that can be mixed and matched.”
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/beijing/2013-01/22/content_16152664.htm
China: wasting food (too)
Fine people who waste food, says pioneering rice scientist. Father of hybrid rice’ slams the excess of sumptuous official banquets, see SCMP article
http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1135460/fine-people-who-waste-food-says-pioneering-rice-scientist
In my book Toxic Capitalism I detail some of the waste in food, not only in developing countries such as the USA, but unfortunately also in China and in Hong Kong. Yuan Longping is right to raise the alarm as the waste of food is sometimes shocking, like in the banquets and even in universities. Fines are not enough, education is even more urgent. Since several years China is now obliged to import massive amounts of food (corn, soya, milk, meat, …).
As says the article: “China News Service has reported that the country’s leftover food could feed more than 200 million people a year. The State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development said about 128 million people were living below the official poverty line in 2011.”
Blame the government officials, the new rich and all others who forgot the value of food.
Update:
China Daily published the original interview on 25 January:
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/2013-01/25/content_16172766.htm
According to the article China wastes every year 200 billion yuan (US$32 billion) of food.
Hong Kong faces its waste problem
As I mention in my book “Toxic Capitalism” the city is certainly not an example to follow in terms of municipal waste per capita, recycling (e.g. glass), food waste and waste disposal. Hong Kong has a typical “throw-away mentality”. But as the landfills are running out of space (they will be full by 2019), proposals to build an incinerator (cost: HK$14.9 billion) and other initiatives face public opposition and scrutiny. As in other cities, the core problem remains the same: people simply waste too much and don’t care. They push the problem into the future. Let the next generation clean it up. Toxic Capitalism at its best. Hong Kong will spend at least HK$31 billion on waste-handling infrastructure in the next seven years, read more in the SCMP:
http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1133346/hk31b-bid-solve-hong-kong-waste-crisis
China’s heavy metal and chemical pollution worsening
Expert warns policymakers yet to address most health-threatening of contamination problems
Sunday, 06 January, 2013, SCMP
http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1120912/chinas-heavy-metal-and-chemical-pollution-worsening
A senior environmental policy official has warned the mainland faces an “extremely grave” environmental crisis that will only worsen as pollution increases and the health problems its causes come to light.
Wang Jinnan, a deputy director at the Chinese Academy of Environmental Planning, told a three-day conference at the Chinese University of Hong Kong that the country has not yet come to grips with the amount of toxins seeping into the ground, pollution that would linger for decades to come.
So far the article in the SCMP. Read more about the dramatic environmental destruction in China in “Toxic Capitalism” (water, air, soil).
The situation is indeed very grave, especially for water resources that are already limited but also too polluted. On the other hand the government is well aware of the pollution and the impact on health. The 12th Five Year Plan and other initiatives from the government show evidence China wants to turn the tide. The new team at the top has put the environment as one of the top priorities. However, if the fight against corruption, the improvement of governance and the changes in Western consumption are not carried out there is little hope. The West is also to blame for its hypocrisy, blaming China for the pollution and poor labor conditions while refusing to insist on quality and durability while paying a fair price. And stopping its habit of buying junk at rock bottom prices to satisfy the orgy of consumption. We all have to contribute to change things.