A-Z Challenge D Noahs Fire spewing dragons

All the hue and cry about the repercussions of China’s activities are dissolved in the face of the effects that China has to bear back home. Its appetite is increasing not only because of the rapid growth of the economy but also because Chinese growth is concentrated in industries which require a lot of raw materials. Moreover, over the past few years, there has been a marked shift from light to heavy industries in the country. Therefore, for each unit of output, more raw materials are required. This, in turn, is accentuating China’s already grim pollution problem. Also, heavy industries require huge amounts of power. Steel making, for instance, uses up to 16 per cent of the total power in the economy against a total of 10 per cent used by households. These factors are acting as drags for the economy. Pollution costs borne by the society in the form of increased medical expenses, loss of productivity due to thousands of premature deaths and lower crop yield together make up for 10 per cent of the GDP of the Chinese economy. Authorities are struggling to ensure clean air for the athletes slated to participate in the Olympics in Beijing this summer. China needs to self evaluate its policies to see where it is headed. The efforts to temper the economic growth, to avoid over heating of the economy and to follow a path of sustainable development have to be evaluated and approached again. Otherwise, China will spiral into a less prosperous, a more unstable and a completely unsustainable place.