The Kyoto protocol is coming to the end of its life in 2012 and the world has come far behind in meeting its ambitious emission targets. Not unexpectedly, the United States and China are the worst offenders on record ignoring the fact that they are both large landmasses with huge populations. China got by an an exemption by fudging the numbers in such a way as to show their emissions are low per capita, while the United States refused to ratify the agreement on the grounds that China should not have been given such an exemption as it unfairly penalizes American companies competing against their Chinese counterparts.
This isn’t the first thing the Americans and Chinese have gone head-to-head on lately. Just last year China finally released their currency from its lock on the American dollar allowing it to float in the global markets. It was not a pretty picture when the shock of that hit the markets at the same time major refinery fires deprived the east coast of gasoline for a week. Incidentally both nations are increasing their death grip on as many oil reserves as they can possibly in preparation for a looming oil economy collapse.
So what is it about China that has policymakers tip-toeing around? Why do they get held to different standards from the rest of the planet? The answer, like many things, is money.
In North America, we depends upon consumers buying an endless supply of cheap imported junk for our economic growth. Consider this: it costs $2500 to ship a container across the Pacific from China, and perhaps three times as much to rail and truck that container across North America to your local Wal-Mart. That means every truck that pulls into the bay costs $10,000 to move from the factory to the shelves. From a business perspective that means every container of freight costs at least $10,000 less to produce in China than it would locally.
As long as it is cheaper to export factory work to China, manfacturers will continue to do so. There are a lot of factors contributing to why China is able to provide such value for the dollar, but some of the most cited reasons are their lack of concern for human rights, worker safety and the environment. The only way to stop that trend is for consumers to refuse imported goods, to buy locally. That won’t happen because the average consumer is more concerned with paying their bills, staving off job loss in the declining economy, and trying to save money to buy more goods. Human rights can’t compete with the almighty dollar.
The ironic part of it all is that the more imported junk gets bought, the more money shifts hands from local to foreign interests, and the more those precipitating factors (paying bills, job loss, saving money) become pronounced. So by trying to be economical in the face of increasingly difficult times we are making that slippery slope much worse.
The transfer of wealth has a slew of problems associated with it (at least, for us in North America). Since people are becomming more affluent in the third world, they are starting to demand the same luxuries that Americans have been enjoying for the last half century – two cars in every driveway, Rolex watches for the rich, huge houses and refrigerators full of so much food that it rots before it can be eaten. Sharing the wealth isn’t the problem here – the problem is that these luxuries tax the planet and important oil reserves that have been keeping us going all thise time.
We are dealing with a culture that is an infant version of our own, one to which we cannot pass on the lessons we have learned. This group of people has been exploited by western business interests for so long now that they aren’t interested in our concerns about oil supply and ozone damage. They want the benefits they have been paying dues for all this time. They have our technology, our money and our ambition. The only way to keep them appeased is by letting them do what they want – which is exactly what we are doing.
This is a bill that will eventually come due; sooner rather than later, at that. How many polluters can the world support, and why do westerners arrogantly presume they have the morale authority to call the shots?
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