An article from Inside Bay Area shows China as a super-polluter whose soot, mercury, and dust are migrating “6,000 miles across the Pacific to California” and questions its ability to stave off an environmental disaster amidst rapid industrialization.
BEIJING ” A pale orange sun hangs low over the evening rush-hour, a brake-light procession of Mercedes, matchbox-size taxis and accordion-style buses that cuts through a canyon of skyscraper construction cranes. On this spring evening, as on most days, this city of 15 million souls is wrapped in a churning brown gauze of foul fumes and gritty dirt.
“It’s a pretty strong cocktail of dust particles, industrial and automotive pollution,” observed Jeremy Goldkorn, a 12-year Bei-jing resident and Internet entrepreneur. [Full Text]
See also part two of the series, Silicon Valley sees green in China’s smog by John Boudreau, about Silicon Valley’s aspiration to become a clean-tech partner in China.