Outsourcing Jobs = Outsourcing Pollution

I was talking with a visitor from China this past week about the beautiful weather we have been enjoying lately. She told me she sent a few pictures of Yale back to friends in China. The children that viewed the photos were amazed, not because of the centuries-old Gothic architecture, but because they had never seen a sky so blue.

Now, I was taken aback, because believe it or not, Yale is located in an urban area, and New Haven is considered a city. There are cars, buildings, construction, and streets. When I arrived last year, I remember complaining to my parents that the poor air quality of the city would cause me to develop some sort of respiratory disease. After all, for all of my life I have lived in nice suburban areas full of trees, blue skies, and sunshine.

Obviously, I had never experienced real pollution. This summer, I had a little taste of the air quality problem in China. The skies were always muggy, smoggy, and gray. First I thought it was just heavy cloud cover, until I realized there couldn't possibly be so many cloudy days during the summer months. It was true - if I peeked hard enough I could detect the hard bright glimmer of sunshine blocked by the layers and layers of pollution covering the sky.

The city pictured here isn't even that bad, believe it or not. This is Shenzhen and twenty-something years ago it was just a tiny fishing village. It has only suffered two decades worth of damage.

So my point is, we only see the bad side of companies moving their factories and jobs to countries like China. Yes, our manufacturing sector may be suffering and people may have to seek employment elsewhere, but the corporations are also taking their pollution and carbon emissions with them. By uprooting their factories, we do not have to deal with the immediate effects of smog and particulate matter.

My friend sees it this way: China is the factory of the United States. Chinese citizens may receive manufacturing jobs, but they also are paying indirectly because of the negative externalities. Respiratory diseases have become very common in cities. Buildings only a few years old look run-down and dirty from all the dirty residue from the air. It's another way to look at the debate over moving jobs and factories overseas. As the U.S. moves from being a manufacturing nation to one that provides services and technology, its environment and its citizens are benefiting.

What I Will Not Miss About China

So last time I wrote about the aspects of China that I will miss. But everything has pros and cons, right? While living in China, there were definitely some things that really bothered me.

Crowds

It's no secret that there are over 1.3 billion people living in China. This creates congestion everywhere - in stores, in the streets, in schools. Buses and subways are always packed to the maximum amount of individuals possible without someone being crushed to death. At the Sam's Club in Shenzhen, on busy days sometimes there aren't enough shopping carts for all the customers. Traffic jams are a frequent and unavoidable consequence for city

dwellers and country residents alike.

Because there are so many people, each individual has to look out for himself. It is a dog-eat-dog world out there. People generally are impatient and will cut in line or push you out of the way. Most people are quite suspicious and therefore not friendly or welcoming to strangers. Both literally and metaphorically, if you let someone else get ahead, it only causes you to fall further and further behind. Of course, there are many exceptions to the rule, and once people get to know you they will treat you like family.

Environmental Degradation

I have written about China's environment before. It is hard to balance every individual's desire for a higher standard of living with the subsequent impact on the environment. My grandfather believes that right now China is just going through its development and afterwards the environment will improve. But the people and the government will never be satisfied with a set level of development. It is human nature to always want more once you have achieved your initial goal. Now your family may have a washer to do laundry, but wouldn't a dryer make life much easier as well?

In many cities that I visited, the air was heavy and the sky was smoggy and gray. There was a stunning lack of green grass and large trees. People tossed trash on the sidewalks without a second thought. Little kids relieved their bladders in the streets. Empty Styrofoam ramen noodle containers floated in rivers.

Additionally, people smoke everywhere - in cars, in restaurants, on buses and trains. Since regulations are so stringent in the U.S., it had been so long since I had actually inhaled cigarette smoke. At first I tried holding my breath every time I passed by a smoker, but I quickly realized this was probably the faster way to die, considering some of my own relatives smoked regularly.

Lack of Diversity

I have never fully appreciated how diverse the United States is, in terms of both race and culture as well as in perspectives and ideologies. Even in a relatively homogeneous place where I live (as compared to New York or Los Angeles), I can still find every single race represented, and people all along the political spectrum. It is easy for me to go to a public location and hear Chinese or Spanish spoken.

In China, outside of the more worldly cities such as Beijing, foreigners are a sight to be stared at. As soon as a foreigner walks into view, whispers commence about their hair color or their stature. It is very awkward, especially since most of the foreigners are fluent in Chinese. Some citizens are even brave enough to ask to have their picture taken with the said foreigner. Of course, though Chinese people may be one race, they can have very different appearances - short, tall, slender, pudgy, wide or narrow faced, large or small featured, etc.

Most Chinese citizens also have the same general opinions about politics and issues such as Taiwan and the U.S. This is the result of state-controlled media and education system. This reason is probably why most people do not talk of politics in everyday conversation. After all, what is the point in discussing if you already agree? I think this might start changing with the younger generation, especially with the rise in Internet usage. Though there are censors on certain websites, the government cannot possibly shield its citizens from all controversial information. We will see what will happen in the future.

Environment

Though China produces so much pollution each year, each individual citizen actually only consumes a very small amount of energy. People have always been very conservative with their energy usage. There simply would be no way for every person here to have the same lifestyle as the average American. Below are some examples I have observed of energy conservation:

Plastic bags are not free at most grocery stores. They usually cost a Yuan each. Therefore many people bring reusable bags.

People usually line-dry their clothes. Nobody owns dryers. Some people do not own washers either and hand-wash everything. It is rare to see an apartment without clothes hanging out of the window or balcony. Usually if there are no clothes It means the apartment is unoccupied at the moment.


In my uncle’s home, hot water has to be turned on by a switch in the bathroom. At my grandparents’, the hot water heater is powered by solar panels from the roof.
There is usually no central air conditioning system. Many people use electric fans. My uncle is lucky to have individual ac units in each room. This system still saves energy because it does not waste power heating or cooling unnecessary areas of the home.

Public transportation is accessible and affordable. There are various types of buses, subway systems, and trains. Other people ride bikes or walk. Sometimes in cities it simply isn’t practical to own a car. In spite of this, air pollution is prevalent in most cities simply because of large population.


Recycling is becoming more popular now. However, most people seem to have no qualms about tossing a plastic bottle into the trash. Likewise, I have seen people just throw trash onto ground in public areas and spit onto the sidewalk without a second glance.


This leads me to believe that the environmentally-friendly ways of most Chinese citizens is not caused mainly by a concern for nature, but out of necessity and habit. There is not enough energy to go around for everyone to have washers and dryers. There is not enough space on the roads for everyone to own a car. There have been enough hard times in the past for my grandparents to still not want to waste a drop of water or a bit of food.

Still, as more and more people discover and demand a higher, western-style standard of living (personal cars, washing machines), China will experience a huge environmental strain and energy crisis. Therefore it is imperative that the country’s leaders figure out a solution that recognizes both citizens’ legitimate wishes and the environmental ramifications of a new age of economic prosperity.