Has China Decided To Tackle Its Pollution Problem?... By Dr Anil Khare (www.anilkhare.com)

Has China Decided To Tackle Its Pollution Problem?

Has China decided to tackle its huge pollution problem? The Chinese government has announced a plan to expand the use of green renewable energy. It's not a new plan, as the Chinese have used green methods for years now. However, it is one that has been discussed for a long time and now seems that it is finally going to take shape and be implemented.

The problem of course is how to generate power from renewable resources. The traditional methods include hydroelectricity, nuclear power and the old standard method of burning coal. All of these have serious environmental issues attached to them and their sources are limited. There is also the issue of coal mined in the first world countries and the question of where the mined coal comes from raises questions. How is this helping the Chinese gain jobs? This seems to be a big question that is bothering everyone concerned about the environment and China.

One suggestion is that China could become a major producer of coal and take some of the work load off the rest of the world. This would in turn allow them to become a major exporter and possibly even partner with the U.S. in helping to provide safe coal. Of course, right now the U.S., Australia, Canada, Germany, India, Japan and South Korea are the major players in the global coal production market. China would want to join this group but would need coal from other places also to start.

Is China's pollution problem tied to the environment? Some say that it is. Others see it as a function of the Chinese consumer culture. They do feel that the quality of their products is suffering because they have become so dependent on technological advances and industrialization at the expense of quality. It is said that China will suffer when the prices go up and the economy suffers as a result.

Today, one of the biggest sources of pollution is coal. There is a great deal of it around the world. Coal mining is not only dangerous to the environment; it is very high impact on the economy. Mining companies will be bringing in more coal to meet rising demand. This means the price of coal goes up. It would seem like China decided not to plan ahead and perhaps wait for a crisis before it decided to do something.

If this is true, China has missed an opportunity. They could easily have turned to other sources of energy like nuclear or hydroelectric power. This would have avoided the inflation of prices and the resulting bad economic policies in the U.S. and Europe. The U.S. and European Union have been trying to develop alternative sources of energy for years now. Why hasn't China?

If this is true, one must ask why? Why give away their hard earned money to developed countries when they can invest it in the U.S., the U.K. or Europe where it would be less risky. They are trying to sell us their energy. China doesn't need our permission to go into the global marketplace.

At any rate, the big question is whether the Chinese government believes in its own capability to tackle the pollution problem. Will they? They certainly aren't doing anything about it now are they? Will they when all the facts come out. Will they take responsibility for the damages done to the environment and themselves through no action? One can only hope.

Recently, I had another interesting thought, one not as funny as some might think. It made me think of the new car technologies that are becoming popular in the West. Has China decided to address its smog problem by building more cars with a "smog engine"? Not likely.

However, one needs to ask if there is anyone who would buy one? It's a funny question, one that I actually asked myself. Well, let me tell you something. Not long ago, I was at Starbucks and I happened to notice how many Chinese there were sitting in the coffee shop, and of course, they all seemed to have a "smog" on their car.

How could that be? Has China decided to buy millions of new cars and then not fix all the smog problems? I don't know the answer, but I do know that the "Chinese Wall" is coming. Please consider all this.