The G8, Global Warming and Asia

With the conclusion of the G8 meeting last week in Germany the worlds richest countries issued several end of conference statements one of which dealt with Global Warming. The press release was unremarkable in that as usual it said absolutely nothing about the issue of Global Warming and its impact upon the environment. So,what does the G8 have and its Global Warming statement have to do with Asia? Other than the fact that Japan is a member?
Outside of the United States the leading industrial nations of Asia are some of the biggest contributors of greenhouse gases in the world.

Note Because this is such an important issue facing Asia and the world todays commentary will only focus on China. With South Korea, Japan and India to follow.

Since the 1980's China's economic growth has been nothing short of phenomenal. Real wages and income have grown along with the economy thereby creating an expanded middle class which leads to political and economic stability. The downside to rapid growth is environmental degradation which inevitably leads to environmental destruction because of the continuing need to keep economic growth at a level which benefits your countries citizens. For China air pollution is a huge problem thanks in part to its economic growth and the need to provide its citizens and industrial sector with electrical power. Unfortunately for China this has meant construction of thousands of coal fired electrical generation plants, because coal is the one fossil fuel it has an over abundance of. While China may have increased its electrical generation abilities the consequences for having done this are no longer just effecting China.

One of China's lesser-known exports is a dangerous brew of soot, toxic chemicals and climate-changing gases from the smokestacks of coal-burning power plants.
In early April, a dense cloud of pollutants over Northern China sailed to nearby Seoul, sweeping along dust and desert sand before wafting across the Pacific. An American satellite spotted the cloud as it crossed the West Coast.

While this maybe a new phenomena to American's its a regular occurrence for the people of Korea and Japan as winter changes to spring it brings a shift it the winds direction and with it comes China's air pollution. Industrial air pollution isn't the only airborne problem to come from that part of the world in the spring. Yellow Sand Storms are also a major problem for South Korea and Japan.

The Korean government launched a campaign in Mongolia on Saturday to reduce yellow dust and sandstorms in the region.

The campaign called Greenbelt Plantation Project is an initiative by the Korea Forestry service to plant some 1.5 million trees in Mongolia to prevent rampant desertification.

Like air pollution these spring time dust storms not only reduce visibility. As with the case of industrial air pollution this dust also aggravates and increases respiratory problems for those living down wind.

China's population is also highly impacted by the increase in air pollution.

According to the World Bank, 16 of the world's 20 most polluted cities are in China. The industrial revolution transforming the world's most populous country is also destroying its environment. China is now the world's second-largest emitter of carbon dioxide, the main gas linked to global warming, and it is set to overtake the United States in 2009, a decade earlier than previously predicted.

What is the Chinese governments response to global warming and its effects on China's and the world's environment? Here are some quotes

China promised last week to better control emissions of greenhouse gases, unveiling a national program to combat global warming, but rejected mandatory caps on emissions as unfair to countries still trying to catch up with the developed West.

"China is a developing country. Although we do not have the obligation to cut emissions, it does not mean we do not want to shoulder our share of responsibilities," said Ma Kai, the minister heading the National Development and Reform Commission, the Cabinet-level economic planning agency.

Why do these statements sound like something the Bush Administration would put out.


The statement by the G8 on global warming

The goal is to agree to cut greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2050, Merkel said, hailing the decision as a "huge success." She said it came after many rounds of talks and negotiations on climate change.

But the declaration falls short of an ironclad commitment, saying only that the world's biggest greenhouse gas emitters should "seriously consider" following the European Union, Canada and Japan in seeking to halve their output by 2050.

It would have been better if the G8 had issued no statement at all concerning global warming. Why? Because the United States the worlds leading producer of greenhouse gases and led by the worlds leading global warming denier refuses to accept any concrete scientific evidence that global warming can and will have a devastating effect upon the world and its environment. Without the leadership of the United States countries like India and China along with the other major world industrial powers see no need to produce any concrete measures which would reduce global warming.