China's economic growth and green elitists

Wonderful article in Brookes News regarding the views of 'Environmentalists' towards China's efforts at modernization. The article is by Peter Zhang: bq. Some Westerners, specially those with a distinct greenish hue, just cannot abide the thought of China raising its living standards to Western levels. They claim that Chinese growth will accelerate deforestation, degrade the environment and deplete natural resources. These are the same people who claim "people are a plague", when they really mean there are too many yellow, brown and black people for comfort � their comfort. And more: bq. To us, the greatest pollution problem facing China is mass poverty. When rich Western environmentalists like Clive Hamilton, director of the Australia Institute, and their fellow travelers in the media urge Third-World peasants to forgo the benefits of growth that these Westerners take for granted, they are actually trying to impose sacrifices on those who can least afford make to them. And I find that despicable. bq. Countries that have not accumulated enough capital to raise most of their peoples above the subsistence level have not sufficient capital for abundant clean water, or modern sanitation. To try and impose Western level environmental standards on them, for instance, is an act of green callousness masquerading as environmental concern. And more: bq. Most Westerners do not realize that their own societies went through a similar phase of heavy pollution during their nineteenth-century "take off" phase. I have to thank my economics editor for being good enough to draw my attention to Chateaubriand's impression of London as he approached it from Blackheath in 1822: bq. "...I saw before me the immense skullcap of smoke which covers the city of London. Plunging into the gulf of black mist, as if into one of the mouths of Tartarus, and crossing the whole town, whose streets I recognized, I arrived at the [French] embassy in Portland Place". Peter's article also has links to two other articles at the bottom of the page. These are worth looking into as well: Article #1) Growth, greens and living standards by Gerard Jackson Article #2) Green economic blueprint is a recipe for tyranny also by Gerard Jackson