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Ogie Oglethorpe
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Marietta, GA
Dec 1999
time: 05:16
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Is China pulling a Schiavo on its own people?
quote:
Report: China Faces Severe Water Shortages
SHANGHAI, China (AP) - China's already severe water shortages are worsening due to heavy pollution of lakes and aquifers and urban development projects with a big thirst for water, such as lawns and fountains, state media reported.
More than 100 cities have inadequate water supplies, with more than half ``seriously threatened,'' the official Xinhua News Agency cited Qiu Baoxing, a vice minister of construction, as saying.
``The uneven distribution of the limited resource and serious pollution further deteriorate the situation,'' Qiu said.
In Beijing, for example, each resident has access to only 10,593 cubic feet of water a year, compared with the world average of 35,310 cubic feet, Xinhua said in a separate report.
Recent urban greenery projects have only worsened the problem due to widespread planting of lawns and construction of fountains that consume large amounts of water, he said.
Meanwhile, experts warned that more than 300 million rural Chinese lack clean drinking water since most waterways are fouled by industrial effluent, untreated sewage and runoff of agricultural chemicals from fields.
A survey in January found that only 47 percent of water in major rivers is drinkable, while half of all lakes are heavily polluted. And 35 percent of ground water is undrinkable due to pollution, Xinhua reported.
``Hundreds of thousands (of) Chinese are afflicted with various diseases from drinking water that contains too much fluorine, arsenic, sodium sulfate or bitter salt,'' it cited Wang Shucheng, minister of Water Resources, as saying.
Wang said the government planned to boost spending on water treatment. He called for better enforcement of often-ignored environmental protection standards.
A five-year, 18 billion yuan ($2.1 billion) program to improve the drinking water supply in the countryside, home to three-quarters of China's 1.3 billion people, has already ensured safe water for 57 million people, Xinhua reported.
© Copyright The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained In this news report may not be published, broadcast or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.
03/23/2005 10:04
APO
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Kidicious
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Diety of Kidiverse
Mar 2003
time: 21:16
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quote:
Originally posted by Sava
ah, but it's in the capitalist's interests to have a consumer base that can spend money... and I don't think anyone will disagree that healthy people can work more, earn more, and buy more. So it's in the capitalist's interest to keep people healthy. |
The individual capitalist doesn't care about that because it doesn't affect his/her individual profit. On the contrary everyone has a collective interest in healthy water. That's why we make a collective decision to insure clean water when we can. That is, when we have the power to, unlike in China. So China is more capitalist, because the conditions are favorable to the capitalist poluters as opposed to the people.
edit: That being said, I'm not very pleased with the quality of water in the US. I don't think others are either, otherwise they wouldn't buy so much bottled water.
Last edited by Kidicious on 24-03-2005 at 03:21
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Sava
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GO GO GO!
Mar 2001
time: 23:16
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quote:
Originally posted by Kidicious
Multinational Corporation
The people aren't failing. They are doing what they are intended to do. In a capitalist system those with capital make that decision. They do so so that they can make the most profit possible. The result is polution. There is no individuals to blame, only the system. |
if you take into account the cost, in lives, and the cost of health care caused by pollution; current polluting methods are not the most profitable... it's just that polluters are too short sighted to see this.
It's not the system. It's the individuals.
More "advanced" methods of manufacturing or power generation would be, by definition, more efficient... i.e. cheaper to operate, simpler to maintain, cleaner, and produces more power. AND... more profitable.
It's just that individuals are not willing to put forth the initial investment to acquire such methods faster. In the long run, more advanced methods will be more profitable. It's the short-sightedness of individuals that prevents advancement.
Plus, blaming the system lets polluters escape the responsibility of their actions. 
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Elok
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Land of Ramen Dragons
Mar 2003
time: 00:16
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Uh, systems are started by people. Systems are perpetuated by people, changed by people, destroyed by people. Somebody somewhere along the line has to make a decision to start all the wheels spinning no matter what kind of system you set up, and no system is better than the people who make it work. If I honestly thought any system could overwhelm human nature, I'm not sure I'd trust it because somebody somewhere had to have made it up, and that someone was probably human himself.
We're not talking about blaming people for being themselves, we merely acknowledge the fact that they will be themselves no matter what kind of convoluted hierarchy you install, because every person in that hierarchy will be a human being himself with his own motives, his own interests, his own little games on the side. No system can be substituted for conscious, informed decision, not in the real world. It won't even work well for a fake world, as players of Civ can attest. 
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23-03-2005 23:29
Sava was involved in a discussion and somebody other than Sava was the first to abandon civility for petty partisan name-calling!
No it doesn't. I don't care if you blame them or not. The important thing is that water is clean.
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