| China's environmental track record stinks to high heaven (literally) and there's no doubt the country's leadership has been and is sacrificing public health for economic growth the same way the US did during industrialization. But the situation in Asia isn't as simple as China. I live in Taiwan. While there's no doubt that some (and at times perhaps a lot) of the air pollution in Taiwan blows over from China, there are plenty of domestic sources of air pollution. Taichung has the fourth largest coal-fired power plant in the world, and the area between Taichung and Kaohsiung is home to many factories and industrial sources of pollution. Scooter usage is very high as well. Taiwan is a democracy, getting closer to developed than developing, and a lot of younger people care about the environment. But without manufacturing and the pollution that comes with it, Taiwan doesn't have an economy. Malaysia has a lot of air pollution. Some is industrial, but a lot comes from fires in Indonesia. A similar situation exists in Thailand. The northern part of the country, including Chiang Mai, has horrible seasonal pollution from agricultural fires in Myanmar and Laos. And of course many parts of India are infamous for pollution. The bottom line is that Asia is the world's factory and home to many natural resources that have severe environmental consequences when exploited. Asian countries want to develop and the only realistic paths to economic growth are paved with pollution. Living here has made it clear to me that for all of the talk about reshoring manufacturing in the US, it isn't going to happen, not just for economic reasons, but because there's no way Americans will be willing to sacrifice the clean(er) air and water they have today. Pollution in Asia is a big problem but the West, because of its consumption that drives industrial activity in Asia, is reasonably as much a cause of the problem as the people in Asia are. |