Is China Going Green? -- Part IV -- It Is, But It Better Hurry
ABC News just ran a story (h/t to China Digital Times) on China's newest export to America -- polluted air. Seems my own state of Washington just confirmed China's dirty air is tainting our own:
For years, air quality in the United States has been steadily improving, which is why atmospheric scientists were puzzled when they recently measured sulfur, mercury and PCBs ' an industrial byproduct pollutant ' blowing onto the Washington coast. Using a pollution-sniffing airplane and computer models, they traced the unwelcome import 3,000 miles across the Pacific.
As one can guess by the "Part IV" in this title, I frequently blog on China's push to improve its environment, most recently, in this post entitled, "Toxic China? Growth Versus the Environment." I also frequently emphasize the opportunities for environmental services and environmental technology companies to make money in China.
Thomas Friedman, author of the mega best-seller, "The World is Flat," seems to agree with both my theses. According to Friedman, "India and China are going to go green because they can't breathe. And they are going to go green by building and designing low-cost, scalable solutions for their markets." He believes Western help is needed and calls for "a high-level Manhattan Project with India and China and America putting all our brains, all our energy, and all our muscle behind designing green technologies on a stop-everything basis."
Bottom Line: China is serious about cleaning up its environment and the scale for it to do so is huge. China is going to need new (and preferably, cheaper) technologies and sophisticated environmental services and the opportunities for Western environmental companies in China are great.
So environmental companies, go to China and get there fast. Summer is coming soon to Washington State and I want clean air.
Comments (1)
Read through and enter the discussion by using the form at the endmarty - March 28, 2006 9:13 PM
Another interesting view on environmental damage in China is detailed in Jared Diamond's book, Collapse. The country has faced enormous damage from deforestation, industrial pollutants, and superprojects like the Three Gorges dam. He contrasts this with the ring of trees being planted around Beijing to stem soil erosion and the resulting dust storms that sweep the city.
It isn't clear which direction the country is going to choose ultimately, but the olympics is serving as a huge push to get some heavy lifting done now.