China :Choking the people for capitalist growth. Air pollution is costing China 3.8 percent of its gross domestic product.

The press is full of lauditory praise of GDP growth  in China.

But this is primarily export driven growth for the 'free trade"  profits of foreign capital. Goods and labour value as profit  gets shipped out .Consumption    by people like you is external ,but the human environmental cost remains.

So the next time you see figures of great capitalist GDP growth in China -remember to deduct at least this 3.8%for air polution.
(water and other polution and environmental damage is not counted here)
 

 Air pollution is costing China 3.8 percent of its gross domestic   product, causing more diseases and claiming more lives, the World Bank has warned.

      While it has put the combined health and non-health cost of outdoor air   and water pollution for China's economy at around US$100 billion a year,
      or about 5.8 percent of the country's GDP, David Dollar, the World Bank  country director for China and Mongolia, said air pollution poses higher 
  costs than water pollution.
               

      Air pollution, especially in large cities, is leading to higher incidence
      of lung diseases, including cancer, respiratory system problems and
therefore higher levels of work and school absenteeism, Dollar said, quoting a World Bank report issued following a joint assessment with
China's State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA).

  He pointed to particulate matter, which measures less than 10 microns in
      diameter, as a major threat to health.

      The density of particulate matter in north China averages 112 microgrammes 
and that in the south, 88 microgrammes, he said at a forum on China's 
 investment environment in Chengdu, capital of southwest China's Sichuan  Province.
      Particulate matter has also been a headache in Beijing, with density
      averaging 141 microgrammes.

      As part of the joint study, the World Bank and SEPA also conducted a
      survey in the southwestern Chongqing Municipality, one of the worst
      polluted Chinese regions, and the commercial center Shanghai, and found
      many citizens are willing to pay for reduced health risks associated with
      environmental pollution.

      (David)Dollar said it would be a cost-effective move to reduce air pollution by 
  moving manufacturing plants out of city centers, replacing coal-burning
stoves with liquefied gas-fuelled heating systems, increasing state  investment in public transport and limiting use of private cars.

      Despite the pollution challenges, the World Bank affirmed China's 
commitment to address the problem. China has put environment protection as
its highest priority in its 11th Five Year Plan and called for a "resource   saving society".

 China is set to improve its energy efficiency by cutting energy
consumption by 20 percent per unit of GDP, along with a 10 percent cut in major pollutants, between 2006 and 2010.

 The government now makes a great noise about plans for building a "harmonious society" it calls "socialist".

That is harmony won by overcoming the growing peoples opposition to capitalist exploitation of labour and the environment . That this is fake  developement not developement to serve peoples real needs to be able live in an environment suitable for humans.

      source:
 biz stories, China Daily 2007-11-19 19:16

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