Warning, these pictures are disturbing.
China’s pollution problem is something that the rest of the world needs to be aware of. I have passed by stories in the media not thinking too much about them. I think it might be that I am too far removed from the situation. After seeing these pictures I can say that it is something that will be on my mind for a long time to come. It really puts the comparison of how good some of us have it into perspective.
A dead fish sits atop a heavily polluted lake.
All of these fish have died due to pollution. This fisherman is left to collect them. The frustration is pretty evident just by looking at his face.
Scientists are saying that the pollution is so severe that it could cause the equivalent of a nuclear winter across all of China.
It’s not just fish that suffer. All water life is effected.
Two thirds of the cities in China do not meet the country’s air emission standards.
Chemical plants illegally dump untreated waste into the Jianhe River turning it red. This is a journalist taking a sample of it.
Residents in Zhugao look with disgust at the polluted river that cuts through their city.
Rural areas have nowhere to put their trash, so it all goes into the river.
Seems like a horrible place for a child to play. But they don’t have a lot of options.
The world discards all of their used electronics in China. This is a scrapping ground.
Only 1% of China’s 560 million urban residents breathe air that is deemed to be safe by European Union standards.
Oil spills are becoming more and more common because of the energy demands. Devastating.
Often times there is work and school closures because the air is too dangerous to go out in.
A child is forced to drink water from this polluted river in Fuyuan.
China’s government projects that all of the country’s available water supplies will have been exploited by 2030.
Pollution pouring into the ocean is something the people of China see every day.
On January 12, the air became so bad that the air quality index couldn’t even measure it.
Every year 750,000 Chinese die prematurely due to pollution.
Did you think the BP oil spill was big? In 2010 a blast occurred in an oil storage facility causing 400 million gallons of oil to spill. That is 4 times the size of the BP oil spill.
2,589 lives were lost in Beijing alone in the year 2012 due to pollution.
90% of China’s urban groundwater is contaminated.
This lake located in Hefei has a very sizable amount of surface layer pollutants and algae.
China is home to 20 of the 30 worlds most polluted cities.
About half of the worlds coal is used in China. In 2011 they used 3.8 billion tons.
It is estimated that by 2030 China’s carbon dioxide emissions will equal the worlds entire CO2 production. That is, if they keep up with the way they are going
This child is swimming in Algal blooms. The blooms are caused by excessive agricultural runoff causing “dead zones”. How would you like for your child to swim in that?
Some ground breaking changes need to be made to even begin to make a dent in China’s pollution problem. Residents of China are looking to buy food grown outside of China due to the growing concern over the safety of any food grown in the country. I would do the same. Now that you’ve seen some of the problems in China, look at some pictures taken on the shores of Hong Kong. What are your thoughts?