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IS CHINAS CULTURE AN OBSTACLE TO BETTER ENVIRONMENTAL PERFORMANCE?

By

Jean Faullimmel


Background

Another environmental mission to China in June 2014 to promote Environmental
Education in the Province of Sichuan made me realize more than ever, the enormous
difficulties the country has to implement proper environmental standards and having
them reinforced. In spite of the great efforts made by the Chinese government pollution,
whether air, water or soil, do not seem to be abating. But why? Is it cultural, does it lack
scientific rigor to implement better standards, or is the country confronted by too many
special interests?

In Europe, between the 1960-90s rivers were severely polluted. Along the river Rhine
from Switzerland to France, Germany and the Netherlands, stretches the major
European industrial complex. During that time poor environmental legislation and
chemical accidents degraded the
rivers ecosystem. For example the
1986 Sandoz incident near Basel,
Switzerland, sent tons of toxic
chemicals into the Rhine turning it
red. The river Rhine became a
chemical dump to a point where the
fish population almost disappeared.

In view of the severe contamination
of this ecosystem at that time,
important environmental and safety
legislation was implemented. This new legislation helped the Rhine ecosystem to
recover from the damage done by human activities. This was possible for several
reasons: (a) better environmental legislation and reinforcement of it, (2) the
implementation of the environmental management system ISO 14001, (3) an accurate
analytical database of industrial pollutants, 4) the rule of law, and (5) financial
incentives from governments to invest in green technologies. The question to be
addressed here is whether developing countries that face the same issues as Europe did,
can use the same approach to help damaged ecosystems to restore their original health?


The Chinese environmental context

Since the economic reform and the opening of foreign investment by Deng Xiaoping in
the 1980s, Chinas economy grew at a GDP pace of around 10% for the last 25 years. The
country focused only on economic development. It has helped millions of people to come
out of poverty, but resulted in severe environmental side effects that affects China today.
China because of its size, huge population and being the worlds manufacturing hub, the
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country can also alter the climate worldwide due to increasing greenhouse gases, and
the oceans aquatic ecosystems as well due to severe water pollution. The industrial
revolution neglected for too long environmental development. Sustainable Development
states that both developments go together and at the same pace. Today China has
important and urgent pollution issues to solve. Once pollution has reached the
environment, its negative impact such as groundwater contamination, can only been
seen over a period of several years. When overall pollution lowers the quality of the air
we breathe, the water we drink, the land we used for farming, and the food we eat, the
populations health deteriorates.

As pollution has no border, local pollution becomes global through winds and ocean
currents. External pressure rather than internal pressure has made China aware of the
urgency of the issues. Is it already too late, or does nature and its ecosystems still have
time to recover from the serious damage inflicted on them? Today, in terms of pollution,
the country sees only the tip of the iceberg, that is, the 10% seen as water, land and air
pollution. The greatest environmental challenges the government is facing is that it must
also focus on pollution that is not seen. Groundwater, a major natural source for
drinking water, if one of them. If water and land remediation is carried out too late,
future generations of Chinese will see the pollution impact of the remaining 90% when
their health is reflected in increasing medical bills, and when they have to pay the heavy
cost of decontamination.

Today we do not know whether the pollution in the country decreases or increases with
respect to, for example, 2000, since the country do not have a complete and accurate
pollutant inventory. Only such document helps to see the evolution of pollution over the
years. Provided the yearly analytical data are complete and not falsified, they tell us
whether or not the country improves its environmental performance. Without pollutant
data, it is impossible to set up objectives and targets on what is significant and where
investment should go. To do so an accurate reference point is needed.


The cultural impact,

Todays Chinese thinking derives from Tao, Buddhist and Confucius philosophies.
Having been many times in China and worked with the people, Im always struck by
their tolerance, their kindness and their hospitality. Yet Im wondering whether too
much tolerance in not in the way
to better environmental
performance. For example, when
you drive on a highway, very few
people respect the driving code,
and you wonder how they
obtained their driving license. Or
if you are in a hotel elevator, men
continue to smoke even though
there is a non-smocking sign in
front of them. In both cases even if
people do not comply to the law, it
does not seem to bother anybody.
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It is an accepted way of life.

In the same way, when it comes to environmental standards, not complying to the
legislation was a normal in some places. I remember a chief engineer in a dyeing factory
telling me that they have to pump water from the aquifer as deep as 100m because the
water above is contaminated. The same factory used coal to in their furnace to make
steam, but the air emission coming out of the smokestack was black. Sulfur dioxide was
the only standard to comply to. Yet there was seldom a quantitative analysis done, and
there was no yearly inventory on how much sulfur dioxide the factory released into the
atmosphere. But what about a standard for the black particulates that have also a
serious health impact on the population? There was no standard for it and no filtration
system to retain the back particulates. Regarding the sulfur dioxide standard, it was not
respected and every factory in the area did the same. It was an accepted fact and there
was no reinforcement of the standard either.

There exists the Environmental Management system ISO 14001 to help companies to
handle their chemical waste and how to reduce it. Chinese companies usually only get
their accreditation when they want to export their products. I worked in ISO accredited
companies but wondered how they passed the test. It was of poor environmental
management quality and incomplete compared to European accreditation procedures. A
European auditor would never give the ISO accreditation in such case. Perhaps
corruption was also involved in the certification process. Corruption generates also
pollution when the rule of law is not respected. And certainly the need for more
company profits may also push its upper management to ignore the legislation, and/or
pay off governmental officials to stay quiet. The cultural background has a lot to do with
such tolerance and behavior, and corruption is a way of life in developing countries.


Collaboration between Governmental agencies and the private sector

I have witnessed a serious lack of cooperation between governmental environmental
agencies and the private sector. The former dictates the latter about what to do without
really understanding the context of the industry, and industries, afraid of being
penalized, hide the reality of their environmental performance. But there is also a social
issue involved. If the plant is told to close down because it cannot comply to the law, a
lot of people may have to be send home. Both unemployment and severe pollution could
lead to social unrest.

Usually old companies are the greatest polluters, but they are not financially strong
enough to invest in green technology and thus need financial help. Government and the
private sector must work together to develop mutual trust, understand each other and
find a compromise about the actions to be taken, its dateline, and whether the
government can give financial incentives for new technology allowing the plant to
comply to the law. If the government does not help, pollution continues. If the rate of
pollution is faster than the rate of pollution control and prevention, then the
contamination of the land, water and the atmosphere will continue to increase.



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Environmental Education and Environmental Information

When a country is seriously polluted and when the health of a whole nation is at stake,
environmental education and environmental information is a necessity. It concerns all
levels of society. It must help the population to develop a deeper understanding of the
issues, and help individuals to change their attitude and behavior toward the
environment and their relation to it.

What is their difference? Environmental information provides (a) facts or opinions
about the issues, (b) it does not teach individuals critical-thinking, (c) does not help
them in problem solving and
decision making, and (d) may
advocate a particular
viewpoint.

On the other hand,
Environmental education can
be divided into different
components: (a) Awareness
and sensitivity, (b)
knowledge and
understanding, (c) attitudes,
and (d) participation.
Environmental education
does not advocate a particular viewpoint or course of action. It teaches individuals how
to weigh various sides of an issue through critical thinking and enhances their own
problem-solving and decision-making skills.

Such education can start in
Primary School, then
Secondary School, followed by
High School, and finally the
university. But the public also
needs to be educated,
especially those who do not
have the chance to go to
school, and those who are
being affected by pollution.
Humans have the power and
knowledge to choose what
sort of environment they want
to live in. The GDP may be
high, but it does not reflect the quality of life of the population. If neglected, pollution
issues can become a source of social instability in the country.

It is understandable that the old generation of Chinese has difficulties to adapt to the fast
pace of change taking place in recent years. Old habits, or the old way of doing things,
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are difficult to change. But it is the younger generation of Chinese, the future of the
country, who must be educated most to develop environmental awareness to
understand the impact of pollution on their wellbeing and their relation to the
environment. At a young age, proper attitudes and the respect for the environment are
easier to accept. Education is the first step for change. Understanding the consequences
of a situation if no action is taken is better than ignoring it. Waiting for the problem to be
solved on its own with time is not a solution either. Only environmental awareness can
change such attitude


Conclusion

The question we have to address is whether the Western definition of Environmental
Education can be applied in China as its culture and political system are different? To
answer this question, we must understand Chemistry. Regardless of culture the
fundamentals of chemistry are the same around the world and even in the universe:
molecules are made of atoms, atoms are made of electrons and protons. Some chemicals
are toxic while others are not. It is the toxic chemicals that harm our health and
contaminate our environment and consequently harm the wellbeing of the population.

The same impact of toxic chemicals is true in China as well as in Europe. The critical
concentration of a toxic compound in air and water that harms a person is the same.
Also, the health of the world
population has the same value
worldwide. So regardless of culture
and political systems, the same
approach to protect the environment
and human health should be taken
and carried out with the same
scientific rigor. Science is neutral, it
does not belong to a religion, a
system, special interests or a specific
culture. It is not chemistry that is to
blame if people become sick and
ecosystems destroyed, it is rather
man who is the culprit because of the
way he misuses chemistry. This awareness gives Environmental Education its real
importance.


JF/07/08/2014