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by Damogran6 1667 days ago
We’re just outsourcing our pollution.
2 comments

Great point.

Similarly, we didn't actually abolish slavery. We in the west are still benefiting from literal chattel slavery. It's just not happening in our backyard, so we don't have to see it, even if we're still benefiting from it.

Around 14% of China's CO2 emissions can be attributed to exports. If you count the other 86% you're basically saying China is a western colony which it clearly isn't.
If you wish to get pedantic about it, we push our manufacturing desire to places in the world that leverage the lack of employee rights, ecological controls, and resource utilization because it's cheaper.

It's not JUST that we've moved (okay, some percentage) of pollution over there, it's that we've decided to turn a blind eye to ANYTHING you couldn't get away with in America (think overtime, OSHA controls, EPA restrictions, intellectual property theft, money movement)...that does not absolve China from taking care of it's own ecology, which it 'appears' to be doing at a faster rate than us...because they don't have the shackles a pesky democracy or rights or any of those other things that go counter to their desire to control absolutely everything within and without its borders.

https://www.chinaghostcities.com/ https://news.cgtn.com/news/2021-10-17/China-steps-up-expandi... https://chinaenv.colgate.edu/airpollution/air-pollution-in-c...

I used to think it'd be a wave that followed cheap labor...I hope it doesn't as I don't think the planet has enough runway to support it.