Health – What’s the real Price we pay for Discount Goods?

As some 4 Billion people witnessed the other night with the Opening Ceremonies of the 29Th Olympiad in China there was one really big story other than the Olympics that has lasted for months if not years. Even with more than half the cars in Beijing parked and most of the industry shut down for the last few weeks to hopefully clear up the air in time for the Olympics the smog or yellow brown skies that some are calling soot like have never let up and there has been barely a glimpse of the beautiful blue sky we in less polluted lands enjoy. 

Human rights maybe an issue the west feels China should resolve but this is really not the most pressing issue take a second and think about this air surrounds us we all breathe the same air that travels the world over. That polluted air in China and elsewhere in aisa maybe the air we consider clean. By the time the air travels in our direction the pollution is blown about and has dissipated. Air is cleaned so we think through rainfall but the pollutants must go somewhere right? My guess would be onto the ground/ water /oceans rivers/of the world so we now have cleaner air but we are left with soil pollution this should not be acceptable have we forgotten about the ban on leaded gasoline and what that was doing to our children. How much longer can the continued pollution like we are witnessing in China and Asia go on this cannot be a good thing can it?

Is this need for cheap goods and huge profits at the expense of humanity and the environment ruining the air and land in China my guess would be yes. China has conquered  with its world dominance in manufacturing  just about all the product lines we purchase on a continual basis don’t believe me look at the “made in” label and keep in mind there is alot of no label made in china goods. Now this is not meant to be a slight against china as of course the country has a great history and some vary beautiful landscapes and tourist attractions.

Now i realize there are many cities in the world with pollutted air like Mexico, los Angeles, Athens but China’s air is so filthy a mask should be worn to protect you from the small particulate matter that is pumped from the many coal plants. These plants produce energy to the local plastics/toy/product factories who inturn pump there own pollution into the air and water so cheap labour can continue and we can enjoy all the products and packaging  purchased from local dollar stores and retail outlets at a extremely discounted price. Is all this sustainable given the impact low wage employment is having in china.

What i am trying to get at is who is really responsible for the pollution in china? Is it you with your need to save that dollar or is it the governments of the world in which we elect.

Our Goverments in the west including Africa and India while working together with China can implement a clean air policy or act unilaterally and i am not talking KYOTO but something that could deliver cleaner air with the use of import taxes. 

Taxes a favourite revenue generating tool of the 20th century and to this day . This tool if used properly could be applied to the benefit of so called emerging economies. Think about it with the amount of trade between North America the rest of the world and China is in the trillions. If products originating from China are taxed pennies on the dollar the combined dollars worldwide could amount to billions. China’s (GDP) was worth roughly 3.43 trillion USDin ‘07. So if you take .20 mulitplied by 3 trillion you get 600 billion. With an environmental levy (import tax) witheld at customs provided to china along with sponsoring government technology could create employment and assist in cleaning up the air and could have a net benefit of opening up a very closed society with co-operation on this most vital front.

   This article will most likely not ever be read by anyone in China as the goverment controls just about everything that is broadcast and printed from the outside world including the Internet is strictly regulated.

As the environment changes we and the rest of the world seriously need to give our heads a shake and re-evaluate how we purchase our goods and give some consideration to the environmental impact these discount goods have on the country in which they are produced remember air today here tommorow just as the wind blows water flows. Our environment is what we make of it does Chernobyl ring a bell.

Lets not forget there are plenty of Environmental Concerns in the world we in western society are no different than our chinese counter parts as the so called developed world have created some of the worst environmental disasters known to man there are many too many to list and they are not talked about.

  Now is the time to assist our developing world neighbours create an economy that does not kill us all in the end. Maybe with elections coming in Canada Harper/Dion and Obama/Mclean in the United States something can be done before we become victims of our own success’s however small the cost could be too great for our race to bear after all we are only human and like past societies poised for extinction.

Source….. Rob Paterson