Is China on par to destroy itself through pollution?

ABU DHABI (eTN) – There is a lot of talk about China taking over the travel and tourism industry, eventually becoming the biggest market in the industry in the not-so-distant future.

ABU DHABI (eTN) – There is a lot of talk about China taking over the travel and tourism industry, eventually becoming the biggest market in the industry in the not-so-distant future. But with issues such as climate change, sustainability, and responsible tourism taking such a prominent position in today’s discourses, one simply cannot ignore the current pollution issues facing China.

Case One: Hong Kong before it was handed back to the Chinese was a lot cleaner than it is today. According to HK Hong Kong Knows, “On August 1 [2012], the Air Pollution Index readings in Hong Kong hit an all-time high, with all three of the cityโ€™s roadside air-monitoring stations (located in Mong Kok, Central, and Causeway Bay) logging worryingly elevated ratings.”

Case Two: Beijing had far cleaner air pre-Olympics than now. Air pollution has become such a problem that it has prompted one Chinese billionaire,ย Chen Guangbiao, and his colleagues to parade onto the streets of Beijing recently to give away hundreds of cans of fresh air. In essence, he said he is sellingย cannedย “fresh air.” He told the media:ย “I’m selling this clean air to remind everyone to protect our environment. Selling this air, I am using an exaggerated method, a principle, to tell everyone that if we don’t start protecting the air in our environment, in ten years our descendants will all be wearing gas masks.” ย Watch the YouTube video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nt8FlHdH7qM

Case Three: In Shanghai, air pollution has become such a nightmare that even the United States Consulate Office (located on Hua Hai Middle Road) has a dedicated webpage and Twitter account addressing the problem. The URL for the webpage, calledย U.S. Consulate Shanghai Air Quality Monitor, isย http://shanghai.usembassy-china.org.cn/airmonitor.html . On Twitter, updates by the US Consulate Office on Shanghai’s Air Quality can be followed via https://twitter.com/cgshanghaiair or @cgshanghaiair.ย As of this writing, @cgshanghaiair says Shanghai’s air quality is “unhealthy for sensitive groups.”

With these in mind, I took the opportunity to ask some of the so-called “future experts” at the ongoing 13th World Travel & Tourism Council Global Summit about the Beijing and Shanghai air pollution problems. Jonathon Porritt,ย Forum for the Future Director and Founder, said: “I think at the moment China is in between two worlds. โ€จThe world it thrives in today is one based on coal, fossil fuel, today’s conventional models of industrialization exported to the world. But China also lives in the future world. It is the largest investor in renewable energy in the world today. It is showing more interests in innovations for a better world than any country I know. And, its leadership is made of mostly people who are scientists and engineers.”

In addition to praising China’s efforts in addressing its environmental woes, Mr. Porritt went on to say that “one of the problems we have is the leadership deficit in Europe and America where leaders are mostly from the political classes themselves and they have very little awareness of what is actually happening in the world. For me, if you want to take a punt on what country will lead the world in a more sustainable future, I’ll put my money on China every time.”

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Nell Alcantara

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