The Dirty Secret Of China’s Economy

Yes, China is a remarkable growth story. But it is also fast becoming an ecological wasteland, home to world-class smog, acid rain, polluted rivers and lakes, and deforestation. Environmental problems play a role in the death of some 300,000 Chinese people each year, according to World Bank estimates.

The good news is that some effective measures can be taken without huge outlays of government spending. Last November, for instance, China agreed to expand a promising pilot program, dubbed GreenWatch, started in 1998, from 22 cities to nationwide by 2010. The program is designed to expose the worst industrial polluters by publicly disclosing once-confidential information on factory emissions, and by ranking companies on their environmental performance.

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