SCI/TECH: China is Now The World's Greatest Consumer.

China has finally become the biggest world consumer of grain, meat, coal and steel. With a population of over 1.3 billion people, the demands of the Chinese people are putting pressure on the country's natural resources.

There is already a serious problem with air and water pollution and there is even talk of an ecological crisis in the future of China.

China is now well ahead of the US in the consumption of commodities such as tvs, refrigerators, and cellular phones. However, as per-capita consumption, China is behind the US.



The report also mentions that as the demands of consumption in China are increasing, illegal trade is also increasing in the country, such as illegal logging, which is stripping Asia of it's last forests.

According to the article, Chinese factories are processing stolen indonesian logs at a rate of a minute of every working day. This is one of the reasons there is a looming ecological disaster in the country.

One has to wonder, after the demands of the Chinese consumption has stripped the country of it's natural resources, where will they turn to meet the growing demands of it's population?

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[edit on 17-2-2005 by Muaddib]

Brrrr....the prospect of economic boom bringing dark and dirty megacities like in the Bladerunner movie is not very attractive, hope the chinese can switch away from coal in time....

One has to wonder, after the demands of the Chinese consumption has stripped the country of it's natural resources, where will they turn to meet the growing demands of it's population?

Siberia.

I don't care how many friendship bridges they build, Siberia has always been the target and there is not a damn thing Russia can do to stop them from moving in. And the Chinese will strip that place clean.

[edit on 18-2-2005 by Bourgeoisie]

Well the problem with China is that now that is a big consumer, who will cash out on the needs of this country?

Obviously US though that it would become the one and that would have busted our economy but China is taking its time and shopping around.

I got the feeling that China is just waiting to see how the American dollars keep doing and if is any sign of recovery.

Originally posted by Muaddib
where will they turn to meet the growing demands of it's population?

Where indeed? Keeping in mind that the rest of the world is increasing as well, just not as fast, then you start to realize the potential for crisis. Is economic starvation a motivation for war? I think a lot of people
underestimate the implications of our "unchecked progress."

China is not sitting back and bidding on the worlds natural resources like most companies.
In South America it is buying shipping lines, building railroads to desolate interiors rich with ores and then creating the mines that will ship them the ores. Kind of like the us did in late 19th century and continues today, to assure ourselves of adequate supplies, but thy're doing it on a much grander scale. At the rate they are expanding their influence around the world even exxon/mobile will need to step aside and let the bigger boys have a go.

Well it looks like Chinas going to have to expirience the fun of being the worlds largest consumer. Anyhow I doubt China can/will expand into Siberia. For one thing it's so freaking cold living there would be a pain. Plus the Chinese don't have a ghost of a chance of successfully invading Russia.