China: Choking on Growth

The New York Times does extensive coverage of the problems of pollution in China, complete with video, slide show and interactive graphics. The long article by Joseph Kahn pulls no punches.

China is choking on its own success. The economy is on a historic run, posting a succession of double-digit growth rates. But the growth derives, now more than at any time in the recent past, from a staggering expansion of heavy industry and urbanization that requires colossal inputs of energy, almost all from coal, the most readily available, and dirtiest, source.

We have noted before that much of the problem comes from the West outsourcing its pollution with its manufacturing;

Chinese leaders argue that the outside world is a partner in degrading the country’s environment. Chinese manufacturers that dump waste into rivers or pump smoke into the sky make the cheap products that fill stores in the United States and Europe.

Lots to read at the ::New York Times