China's Dirty Secret.

China's juggernaut economy is the envy of the world, but at what cost to the country's people and environment? 101 East investigates.

China provides the world with cheap electronics, at the expense of their own land, air, water, and people.

A chemical called N-Hexane was responsible for hundreds of workers being hospitalized from breathing it in, mainly used on Apple products, prolonged exposure to N-Hexane can cause anything from harming the nervous system to causing muscular damage and has been known to even cause paralysis. One of the villages claim the incinerator put near their village is killing people, it's less than 200 meters away from their village, it's an incinerator for medical waste. Even Chinese officials say it's not safe to have one closer than 800 meters.

In another village migrant workers live together to rifle through the worlds E-Waste that gets shipped back to china, a woman lights plastic on fire and inhales the fumes through her nose to determine which kind of plastic it is and sorts it accordingly, imagine inhale plastic fumes every few seconds for years.

While at a village officials show and try to find who is to blame for the camera crew being there, the villagers were telling their story to the crew of how they live in a toxic environment when they showed up, earlier in the video a plain clothes Chinese policeman is filming with with a hidden bag cam so they start filming him up close and he leaves.... weird stuff.

Well worth the watch 24:55



www.youtube.com...

During the industrial revolution children were used as virtual slave labor because they were far cheaper to hire than adults.

It is all very well to knock other countries after your own has gone through all of these stages and became first world nations. Now, after you have cut down all the forests, raped the land, caused dust bowls, killed ingeniousness populations by the thousands, polluted rivers and land some of which have yet to be cleaned up all you can do is point the finger at other Nations going through the same process.

Look to your own back yards first. Then help others instead of dropping bombs on them.

P

reply to post by pheonix358


I did not make the film I merely posted it, simmah down nawh.

reply to post by Lysergic


Was not referring to you as in you but to the many even most of the first world countries who make this crap to try and convince that these countries are evil with dirty little secrets.

There are some very interesting places in the US as an example that no one wants to clean up because it costs too much. All they have to do is print some more money. Then there are all the dirty little experiments on people through the fifties and sixties.

I just hate double standards.

P

reply to post by pheonix358


This came from AlJazeeraEnglish on youtube, but I get what your saying, all countries have their own dirty secrets, it's just right now China is going balls to the wall so to speak, and really it's all of our faults, all of us using our cheap electronic gizmos. If it isn't coming from china it's coming from some where else doing harm to the environment. The world demands it they make it we buy it.

It's sad the way Africa has also become a dumping ground for E-Waste but thats a whole other thread so much manipulation of the African continent.

reply to post by pheonix358


Even though other countries went through an industrial revolution you can't argue that China does not have some of the most polluted cities in the world.

We went to the single most polluted place on earth, the coal-mining town of Linfen in Shanxi Province, China, where kids play in dirty rivers and the sun sets early behind a thick curtain of smog.

reply to post by Lysergic



Well,they feed us the crap,we have to dump the other crap somewhere,right?

A never ending cycle of crap.

Isn't there a pink floyd song for that?

Trading human lives to satisfy our needs of endless wants and useless needs.

It is time to cut the umbilical cord and go live our lives free from the cycle.

We can do better than this.

reply to post by pheonix358


Your logic is only superficially correct, the times are not the same (technology, social aspirations, know how even, economic structure). There is no reason to repeat errors of the past in many areas, and in other the past experience and new technology (even free tech.) can help reduce the impact. The issue in China is both corruption and low consideration for life and environment (not only in China but in general in Asia). I even think it is more than a simple cultural thing, it is also both environmental and genetics...

I was just reading an acticle about their situation, a few days old now.

link

On the second last day of China's annual session of parliament came the time to rubber stamp the new ministers and also the make up of various committees. When the vote came to tick off the new Environmental Protection and Resources Conservation Committee, 850 delegates voted "no" and 120 abstained from a total of just under 3000.

For two days at the end of the National People's Congress Beijing was shrouded in a thick blanket of smog and, in the midst of it, a third of this country's senior Communist Party delegates from across the country were prepared to publicly humiliate the government and the Party over the handling of air pollution policy.

We weren't to know then that a major protest vote was brewing at the Congress but, on reflection, Vice Minister Wu Xiaoqing and the pollution control officials who flanked him must have had a whiff of it. Throughout January northern China experienced record levels of air pollution with the Government's instruments clocking measures of harmful pollutants that led to advice from officials for the sick and elderly simply not to leave their homes.

When you break it down to the basic geopolitical impact, Chinese people have given up their air, water and soil in order for you to be able to read this article on a cheap electronic device.

World pollution is everyones issue, and every little bit adds up. Another load of people on the planet who probably haven't seen the stars or Sun, as they should be seen, in a long time.

It's sad, I hope they work towards cleaning it up and improving air quality in their cities for their people.

This is when it is absolutely okay to borrow the ideas and technology from other countries to help yourself out.
link

reply to post by Lysergic


He's going with the old stand by, when in doubt bitch about Yanks.

reply to post by kdog1982


Last years plastic melted into this years hot new shape.

International laws should prevent such behaviour by corporations by implementing different laws which would require paying workers in international subsidiaries the average salary of the local country and also set higher standards for the work environments in international grounds + tax highly the capital/profits that is exported out of the country.

Who cares that stuff will cost more, at least people who made it, get what they deserve.

reply to post by Lysergic


I watched the video a while back and I agree that it's everyone's fault [to an extent of course].

It's saddening what people will do to themselves, and others, out of fear of death, and lust of wealth.

I think that even if some government, or wealthy person, stepped up and said, "If you stop this, I will give you money.", it wouldn't fix the problem. It would just aid them by giving them money to build more factories.

That's to say, the problem isn't lack of money - it's the lust for money.

reply to post by Lysergic


Good thread, S&F. I was not aware of all this "E-waste" going to China. I often wonder what happens to all these things we consume here.. it has to go somewhere when we are finished with it.. Interesting stuff, and worth looking deeper into. I haven't had the chance to watch the video but it's on my list of things to look at soon, thanks!

Originally posted by zonetripper2065
reply to post by Lysergic

 

He's going with the old stand by, when in doubt bitch about Yanks.

The industrial revolution started in Britain my friend. It's not all about you yanks.

reply to post by woodwardjnr


That isnt even close to my meaning, but fine what ever you say mack.

What I am saying is see to your own back yard. All western countries have this need.

In the US the Hanford Nuclear Reservation is America's most polluted site constantly leaking radioactive waste. It has been leaking for more than three decades. No one wants to clean it up because it is too expensive.

Once you have your own yard tidy, then you can point the finger at others although a helping hand would be much better!

All over the world we are causing fracking quakes and I call that pollution! But, we must peruse the almighty $.

Just to be fair let's have a look at the radioactive pollution spewing from Fukashima. For heavens sake! It is polluting the North Pacific Ocean with no end in sight.

Let the Chinese manage their internal affairs and worry about your own back yard wherever that may be. Talk about double standards.

P

Originally posted by Lysergic
reply to post by pheonix358

 

Even though other countries went through an industrial revolution you can't argue that China does not have some of the most polluted cities in the world.

Don't forget, their pollution becomes our pollution...one way or another, we are all screwed

It's not just the e-waste that's the problem. Corruption is ever present and officials will overlook environmental violations when given an envelope with a generous gift inclosed. A further issue is the lack of responsibility for any action they do as it's never their fault unless caught red handed.

They will not follow even simple rules unless forced to do so, this can be seen from the lowest to the highest levels. As one poster suggested, it might be genetic, they do not know how close they are to the truth. From the lowest citizen to the highest leader, they treat China as if it were a garbage dump and expect someone else to clean up their mess as this is how they are raised and taught.

It will require a fundamental change in the way they think and a genuine effort to eliminate corruption at all levels and that is not going to happen anytime soon.

Originally posted by pheonix358

All over the world we are causing fracking quakes and I call that pollution! But, we must peruse the almighty $.

Just to be fair let's have a look at the radioactive pollution spewing from Fukashima. For heavens sake! It is polluting the North Pacific Ocean with no end in sight.

Let the Chinese manage their internal affairs and worry about your own back yard wherever that may be. Talk about double standards.

P

edit on 3/4/2013 by pheonix358 because: (no reason given)

Yet we are all stuck on this ball together so in a way it's everyone's back yard. Fukashima saga is a crime against humanity I can't understand why it's allowed to be the way it is. To me it's not even about letting the Chinese managing their internal affairs, it's maybe we should rethink some of our desires.