China's Road to Destruction: Following the West on Global Warming

SINCE CHINA'S opening began three decades ago, it has become intimately connected to the world, and Chinese society has been transformed. This has brought many benefits to China and its people — not least, because it has lifted millions out of dire poverty — but it has come at a dreadful price. The country has rapidly become the global epicenter of environmental disaster, with most of its waterways polluted, its cities choked in smog and its people suffering the effects of severe ecological degradation of all kinds. It would be bad enough if the environmental effects of China's rise were restricted to its own borders. Alas, this is not the case. Increasingly, Asia and the wider world are suffering collateral damage from China's rapid economic growth as more of its people join the global consumer culture. Indeed, as China's economy and changing lifestyles demand huge quantities of raw materials and commodities and its manufacturers release massive amounts of pollution, it has surpassed the United States in its negative impact on the health of the earth.

The most profound environmental consequence of these developments is China's contribution to climate change.