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July 28, 2005
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All I need is the Air that I Breathe
America, China, Australia and three other major nations have achieved a deal today on greenhouse gas emissions. But before all you environmentalists get out your green party hats, there's a catch to this agreement - the gas reductions are completely voluntary, no targets are set, and it's primarily centered around the transfer of 'cleaner' technology to countries like China and India. So it doesn't appear as though smog relief is going to happen anytime soon in Hong Kong or anywhere else in urban China. Especially when China is now planning an Eisenhower-era national road network that will serve to boost the domestic car manufacturing industry. Great for industrial production and employment, but terrible news for the environment, with car diesel fumes likely to clog our respiratory tracts for decades to come. Evidence that China is adopting the model of American suburbia as its way of life came in this Xinhua article yesterday, which announced that the largest US property group (who is also the largest builder of American-style suburban malls), the Simon Property Group, has announced plans to build 12 mega-malls in China in conjunction with Morgan Stanley and Wal-Mart. This comes as Wal-Mart has announced it would have 90 mega-stores in China within the next two years. So it seems as though the car will play an increasingly critical role in China, which, as in the US, has caused all sorts of health problems amongst Americans that no longer know what to do with the two long bony, jointed things sticking out from below their pelvis. China's 'Little Emperors' raised in the era of the one-child family policy better get used to cruising over to Gold's Gym for a workout! The only thing that may de-rail this national road project are riots like these; in a country much more populated than the US per square mile, land used for road-building is already generally owned by existing tenants, usually poor urban farmers. And the time when such farmers meekly left their plots upon receiving their compulsory purchase orders may be drawing to a close... posted by HK Dave on 07.28.05 at 05:22 PM in the
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