I saw his post, and thought it was pretty telling. Some problems are universal.
Now, I know that I have mentioned this before, but I remember in 2008, there were some American Olympic athletes who, as some kind of a protest, arrived at Beijing with some masks on to protect themselves from the infamously poor air quality.
Were they right? Well, they are right to pay attention to air quality, and perhaps right to protest in that manner when they are afraid that poor air quality might have a negative impact on their health.
The problem that I had with it is that they did this just as China had become, officially, the biggest polluter in the world. They had just taken that title from the United States, and I wonder how much those concerned American athletes were protesting like that right here, in their own country? Were they wearing masks in front of the White House, or by the headquarters of big corporations that were guilty of pollution?
Somehow, I doubt it.
Also, China has a population literally four times as bit as the US, and that means that, per person, they still pollute a hell of a lot less than Americans do.
In any case, I am certainly not trying to pat China on the back, or justify the level of pollution that exists there. Just was not a big fan of American hypocrisy prominently on display like that.
That said, smog in China is a huge problem, and here is a link that you can follow to see for yourself just how big of a problem it is:
PHOTOS: Shanghai’s Unbelievable Pollution Problem Started The Week Badly, Ended Worse BY REBECCA LEBER ON DECEMBER 9, 2013:
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/12/09/3030071/shanghai-photos-pollution/
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