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.Whilethe Republic's own resources are scarce, at minimum it could assume alarger role as a bridge, in ways to be explored, between the outside worldand Haiti.Will Dominicans come to share those views? In the past, the Dominicanpeople have accomplished feats much more difficult than becoming con-structively engaged with Haiti.Among the many unknowns hanging overthe futures of my Dominican friends, I see that as the biggest one. CHAPT ER 12China, Lurching GiantChina's significance Background Air, water, soil Habitat,species, megaprojects Consequences Connections The futurehina is the world's most populous country, with about1,300,000,000 people, or one-fifth of the world's total.In area it isCthe third largest country, and in plant species diversity the thirdrichest.Its economy, already huge, is growing at the fastest rate of any majorcountry: nearly 10% per year, which is four times the growth rate of FirstWorld economies.It has the world's highest production rate of steel, ce-ment, aquacultured food, and television sets; both the highest productionand the highest consumption of coal, fertilizers, and tobacco; it stands nearthe top in production of electricity and (soon) motor vehicles, and in con-sumption of timber; and it is now building the world's largest dam andlargest water-diversion project.Marring these superlatives and achievements, China's environmentalproblems are among the most severe of any major country, and are gettingworse.The long list ranges from air pollution, biodiversity losses, croplandlosses, desertification, disappearing wetlands, grassland degradation, andincreasing scale and frequency of human-induced natural disasters, to inva-sive species, overgrazing, river flow cessation, salinization, soil erosion, trashaccumulation, and water pollution and shortages.These and other environ-mental problems are causing enormous economic losses, social conflicts,and health problems within China.All these considerations alone wouldsuffice to make the impact of China's environmental problems on just theChinese people a subject of major concern.But China's large population, economy, and area also guarantee that itsenvironmental problems will not remain a domestic issue but will spill overto the rest of the world, which is increasingly affected through sharing thesame planet, oceans, and atmosphere with China, and which in turn affectsChina's environment through globalization.China's recent entry into theWorld Trade Organization will expand those exchanges with other coun-tries.For instance, China is already the largest contributor of sulfur oxides, chlorofluorocarbons, other ozone-depleting substances, and (soon) carbondioxide to the atmosphere; its dust and aerial pollutants are transportedeastwards in the atmosphere to neighboring countries and even to NorthAmerica; and it is one of the two leading importers of tropical rainforesttimber, making it a driving force behind tropical deforestation.Even more important than all those other impacts will be the propor-tionate increase in total human impact on the world's environments ifChina, with its large population, succeeds in its goal of achieving FirstWorld living standards which also means catching up to the First World'sper-capita environmental impact.As we shall see in this chapter and againin Chapter 16, those differences between First and Third World living stan-dards, and the efforts of China and other developing countries to close thatgap, have big consequences that unfortunately are usually ignored [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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.Whilethe Republic's own resources are scarce, at minimum it could assume alarger role as a bridge, in ways to be explored, between the outside worldand Haiti.Will Dominicans come to share those views? In the past, the Dominicanpeople have accomplished feats much more difficult than becoming con-structively engaged with Haiti.Among the many unknowns hanging overthe futures of my Dominican friends, I see that as the biggest one. CHAPT ER 12China, Lurching GiantChina's significance Background Air, water, soil Habitat,species, megaprojects Consequences Connections The futurehina is the world's most populous country, with about1,300,000,000 people, or one-fifth of the world's total.In area it isCthe third largest country, and in plant species diversity the thirdrichest.Its economy, already huge, is growing at the fastest rate of any majorcountry: nearly 10% per year, which is four times the growth rate of FirstWorld economies.It has the world's highest production rate of steel, ce-ment, aquacultured food, and television sets; both the highest productionand the highest consumption of coal, fertilizers, and tobacco; it stands nearthe top in production of electricity and (soon) motor vehicles, and in con-sumption of timber; and it is now building the world's largest dam andlargest water-diversion project.Marring these superlatives and achievements, China's environmentalproblems are among the most severe of any major country, and are gettingworse.The long list ranges from air pollution, biodiversity losses, croplandlosses, desertification, disappearing wetlands, grassland degradation, andincreasing scale and frequency of human-induced natural disasters, to inva-sive species, overgrazing, river flow cessation, salinization, soil erosion, trashaccumulation, and water pollution and shortages.These and other environ-mental problems are causing enormous economic losses, social conflicts,and health problems within China.All these considerations alone wouldsuffice to make the impact of China's environmental problems on just theChinese people a subject of major concern.But China's large population, economy, and area also guarantee that itsenvironmental problems will not remain a domestic issue but will spill overto the rest of the world, which is increasingly affected through sharing thesame planet, oceans, and atmosphere with China, and which in turn affectsChina's environment through globalization.China's recent entry into theWorld Trade Organization will expand those exchanges with other coun-tries.For instance, China is already the largest contributor of sulfur oxides, chlorofluorocarbons, other ozone-depleting substances, and (soon) carbondioxide to the atmosphere; its dust and aerial pollutants are transportedeastwards in the atmosphere to neighboring countries and even to NorthAmerica; and it is one of the two leading importers of tropical rainforesttimber, making it a driving force behind tropical deforestation.Even more important than all those other impacts will be the propor-tionate increase in total human impact on the world's environments ifChina, with its large population, succeeds in its goal of achieving FirstWorld living standards which also means catching up to the First World'sper-capita environmental impact.As we shall see in this chapter and againin Chapter 16, those differences between First and Third World living stan-dards, and the efforts of China and other developing countries to close thatgap, have big consequences that unfortunately are usually ignored [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]