Integral Dynamics

Beijing persuaded the World Bank to cut from a report findings that pollution has caused about 750,000 premature deaths in China each year because of concerns that findings on premature deaths was too sensitive and could provoke “social unrest”, the Financial Times reported. (link / back-up link)

When I looked up the term “social unrest”  in Wikipedia (link)  I was redirected to the term “rebelion”.

A rebellion is, in the most general sense, a refusal to accept authority. It may therefore be seen as encompassing a range of behaviours from civil disobedience to a violent organized attempt to destroy established authority. It is often used in reference to armed resistance against an established government, but can also refer to mass nonviolent resistance movements.

Given the above description there is a lot of rebellion in this world. And rightly so.

What could happen if the Chinese population learned about the following facts,

750,000 people die prematurely in China each year

• High air-pollution levels in Chinese cities is leading to the premature deaths of 350,000-400,000 people each year.
• About 300,000 people die prematurely each year from exposure to poor air indoors.
• About 60,000-odd premature deaths were attributable to poor-quality water, largely in the countryside, from severe diarrhoea, and stomach, liver and bladder cancers.

And if they learn about the following facts, previously  published  by others.

• Sixteen of the world’s 20 most polluted cities are in China.
• Since 2002, approximately 63 billion tons of wastewater flow into China’s rivers each year, of which 62% are pollutants from industrial sources, and 38% are poorly treated or raw sewage from municipalities. [U.S. Department of Commerce, International Trade Administration, 2005 Water Supply and Wastewater Treatment Market in China, Washington, DC.]
• China’s CAFOs (confined animal feeding operations) produce a total of 2.7 billion tons of livestock manure annually; 3.4 times the industrial solid waste generated nationwide (China Watch, December 12).
• In China’s rural areas, 700 million citizens lack access to safe water.
• Urban inhabitants in China draw 70% of their drinking water from groundwater sources.
  Between 50% and 90% of urban groundwater is contaminated by agricultural runoff, industrial and municipal wastewater and in some municipalities, even toxic mine tailings.

What could happen?

• Holding authorities accountable?
• Strikes?
• Skilled workers moving away from those areas?
• More violent options like revolt, revolution, insurgency, civil war?

The title of the report, “Cost of Pollution in China: Economic Estimates of Physical Damages” suggests an economic viewpoint.

We are talking costs vs benefits here. And the costs of informing the Chinese people, dealing with the “social unrest”, and improving the situation are, certainly in the short term, higher than the cost of 750.000 people dying prematurely each year.

Even more if you take into account who is paying what costs, the people vs the authorities.

So, for the authorities, the benefits of not telling the people involved justifies there intervention with the World Bank report.

And it gets even more attractive, again, short term thinking in my opinion, if the authorities factor in tourism and Olympic Games.

‘We in the West’ have to change the equation.

As global citizens we have to realize that environmental pollution don’t stop at borders.

As consumers we have to realize that Chinese products are cheaper because the  cost of environmental pollution are not sufficiently priced.

As tourist, we have to realize this kind of pollution is also detrimental for our own health.

As participants and visitors of the Olympic Games we have to realize that Chinese government uses the Olympic Games also as a legitimation of themselves.

As human rights activists we have to realize that keeping people (workers) in such a hazardly situation without giving them this information, without giving them the freedom of choice, is a kind of slavery.

As peace activists we have to realize that the need for clear, fresh drinking water, can lead to resource wars; for instance China controls the Tibetan plateau — the source of most major rivers of Asia.

‘We in the West’ have to ‘rebel’ in many non-violent ways to make sure that Chinese authorities empower its people, further decentralize decision making, and give its citizens more choices in their lives.