Conservation

For those of you who have not visited China (I think that might be everyone), I imagine that the image of China's environment you may have is not exactly flattering. You are right. Shanghai's air quality on a good day if worse than LA's on their worst (and much of that pollution is correlated to China). The poor air quality combined with the fact that the vast majority of Chinese people smoke has led to pulmonary disease becoming the number one killer of Chinese people.


But at least for my self when I think of air pollution back home I picture SUV's and pick up trucks, things that are very few in China. The pollution that China endures is mainly the product of 1) their very fast growing economy, many, many factories dot hundreds of cities along the east coast of China and with a poor incentive structure for environmental protection they are largely responsible for the gross pollution of the air and water (although tighter regulations are beginning). 2) The incredible population of China (1.3 BILLION people) has led to deforestation, causing flooding and all sorts of other problems. But the source of the problem is not individuals unlike what many would argue is the source of America's environmental woes.


Example: very, very few people drive cars. If you have a car in Shanghai, you do very well for yourself. And most of the cars that are on the road are fuel efficient, lots of VW's, Toyota's, some Chinese models and the elite drive BMW's and Mercedes.' But if you have a veihicle at all in this city it probably has only two wheels. Mopeds, bicycles, bikes with the wind up electric motors are all very common as well as fleets of motorcycle taxis (caught one on the way home from the gym the other day, beats the heck out of any roller coaster). There are very few SUV's and no pickups.

Also Chinese people generally don't heat their homes as I mentioned previously. There is no central heating system that I've been able to find yet and while homes seem to always have heaters in them, they are almost guaranteed to be off, meaning no electricity, meaning no burning of fossil fuels, meaning no pollution.


An example of Chinese conservation: In my host families home, their bathtub has a leak, rather than allowing it to drip down the drain (or fix it) they put a bucket under the faucet and catch the water. That water is then boiled and put in big thermoses around the house (probably three or for of them). The water from the thermos is then used to fill hot water bottles that we hold and sleep with to help stay warm, because they don't use any heat.

So why is it that Chinese people seem to take conservation very seriously, at least on an individual level? The simple answer is because to be wasteful is very expensive by Chinese standards. Apparently electricity rates during the day are through the roof, so the solution is to simply not use any, or as little as possible. But some would argue that there is a deeper more philosophical reason that has led to this. Confucian ideology is big into the environment, saving water, and nature, there are many sayings in Confucianism that support the protection of the environment from waste and destruction.

So is China's environment really, gross? Yes. Could it be worse? Definitely.

-AL