EWWWW - when you think pollution, I’d imagine a hazy day in Hong Kong where smog is thick and you can’t see across the harbour to Kowloon. But this is NOTHING compared to what’s going on in China.

Click “Pollution in China” to view some crazy photographs of pollution in action.  It’s sad to think that a country as mighty as China is able to eat its own resources and destroy its own land. I’d hate to think what the future generations will have to go through in order to obtain clean drinking water (or breathe clean air for that matter). I have an acquaintance who says that they are opening a new factory to clean steel (or something like that) and when asked if they are expanding, they said “No, we have to close our old factory because the residue of the cleansing process is dumped into the ground and we’ve run out of ground.” These folks grew up in Canada. I am ashamed that they have the right to use a Canadian passport and think that it is OK to pollute the earth because their neighbours in China are also doing it.

I am the average “green” supporter to date.  I will recycle (though it’s not easy in Hong Kong to do so - and I wish they were into composting more) and I will use nylon shopping bags to replace plastic bags when grocery shopping.  I try to promote these values to my children, mainly Vanessa now, to save energy by turning off the air conditioner and the lights when we don’t need to use them (also trying to train my helper in the process).  I don’t donate money to “green” needs because my donation priority is elsewhere.  I don’t agree with building a pollution factory in China so I can get rich and wish some people had half a brain and heart to agree as well. 

You may attribute ignorance and lack of education to not being “green”.  Afterall, maslow’s hierarchy of needs never fails in human survival, but I think many Chinese (and western companies who invest in these Chinese factories) simply ignore education and see the “green” in money instead of the environment.  Pathetic.