GDP touching thousand billions mark, but no one is to enjoy the fruits of development! This imaginative scenario is going to be a reality in China. The rash economic growth patronized by government of China for decades ignoring the environmental concerns is now taking toll on the human and natural resources of China. The sky scrappers of Shanghai and Beijing embodying numero uno position of China as world’s leader in economic growth, get missing in morning haze caused by pollution and millions of workers living in the cities suffer from acute pneumonia and heart disease breathing polluted air.
The 2004 figures of pollution cost in the country stand at a startling $64 billion, gathering 3% of the country’s finances. It also makes China one of the most polluted countries in the world. The present state of the country, marred by torrential rains, floods and droughts, dried rivers, melting glaciers, dying flora and fauna says the whole story. China’s unrelenting development in the form of rapid industrialization is not only fuelling the economy, but also eating away the environment, the result of which is global warming. Who doesn’t know about the havoc that climate change would wreak?
Not only the human health, but also natural environment is witnessing rapid and extreme changes, which mean only hazard. For the past some time, we are getting used to hear about the toxicants being found in marine resources particularly, rivers and seas, killing water organisms and disturbing the marine ecosystem. Excessively polluted toxicants in the water bodies can suffocate the marine life such as the planktons, oozes, fish, nektons and the like. Polluted water bodies would also mean lack of potable drinking water, or for that matter, if water is polluted with toxics it is unfit for human or animal use.
Last year itself, there were half a dozen incidents, in which many of the rivers got affected due to drainage of industrial wastes. With growing industrialization and rapid development of cities, forests are gradually getting destroyed and concrete buildings taking their place, only adding to rising temperatures. Growing slums are leading to burgeoning urban crime and prostitution. We don’t need such kind of development accompanying more evils than benefits.
What is such a development use of, if citizens of the country cannot even breathe clean air? If survival demands a healthy economy, then clean pure air becomes the utmost need. Development of the nation depends on healthy workers, who if fit can take the country to new heights, but if workers are themselves under the attack of pollution related diseases, what will they give to the economy? That means economy will also loose its sheen if workers are down and out. A strong economy requires a healthy environment to reap the harvests.
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Via: Yahoo