Industrialization Has A Social Cost

In the last couple of decades, China has turned to their own brand of capitalism in order to turn their country from a rural society to a modern industrial state. They have been very successful in this effort, mainly because their workers are not protected by unions or the government as in most modern industrialized societies. Because of this, they have had great success in attracting foreign corporate investment. There are few things a corporation loves more than workers who are easily exploited.

But while the Chinese welcomed the economic benefits that unregulated industrialization has brought (even an exploited worker is better off than China's rural inhabitants), they are now beginning to realize that this industrialization also has other effects on society -- detrimental effects.

We saw one of those effects when we watched the Olympics last August -- air pollution. There are many days where an unhealthy haze hangs over Chinese cities (just like many American cities). But it doesn't stop there. The earth and the water are also being polluted by the rampant and uncontrolled industrialization.

It shouldn't come as any surprise that the same corporations that will exploit workers, will also happily take shortcuts that destroy the environment. After all, it costs money to properly dispose of the poisonous waste produced by many industries, and a corporation will not spend that money until it is forced to do so. That would cut into the exorbitant corporate profits.

This industrial pollution has now reached the level in China where it's affecting the health of the people. A senior government official recently noted they are experiencing an alarming rise in the birth of babies with birth defects. It has gotten so bad that a baby with birth defects is now born every 30 seconds in China, and as the pollution spreads, it is even beginning to affect rural areas.

But we should not feel superior to the Chinese. While they are just beginning to feel the effects of a poisoned environment, we have been dumping poisons into our air, ground and water for many decades. And while we talk about it, we do very little about it. Every year, more and more pollutants are being dumped into our environment.

Here in Texas, our legislators are trying to build more coal-fired power plants -- even though coal is the worst polluter of any energy source. They will probably get it done too, because they are lying to citizens and calling the plants "clean coal plants". The truth is that this is not actually "clean", since these plants will produce at least 60% of the same pollutants as the old-style coal-fired power plants.

For the last eight years, the corporate-owned Republican Party has fought anything that would rein in the polluters. I hope Obama and the Democrats will do better. We are not only poisoning ourselves, but also the planet we must live on. We must decide soon which is most important -- corporate profits or human survival.