The most important thing is the economy. Money is god for now. Everything else isn't worth bothering with. By the time they switch priorities, it will be really difficult to reverse the damage. In some places it may be irreversible. I think many countries have done this, it's just at so great a magnitude that it's doing major damage.

Its getting better than it used to be, slowly. I was at a chemical plant a month ago that manufactures unsaturated polyester resin. Since its a condensation reaction, water is evolved, but has some traces or various raw materials (organic acids and glycols) in it. They actually ran the water through a series of bacterial digestion tanks, carbon filters etc, with the last tank being crystal clear, prior to discharge. I was very impressed as its not typically the norm for China.

When I talk to students about this topic usually their reply is the same.................and it amazes me everytime when they say things like, "I don't give it much thought, besides, someone will pick it up later."

The youth of the country folks!

i think they truely dont care they are trying to get out of this shithole

A LOT of it is education. And the way they are raised (someone else will clean it up). AND the fact they have been more worried about becoming an economic leader with little funds to get there that they've not been worried about the environmental impact. It's going to take them several decades to clean it all up. But they, as a country, need to start caring first. Until that happens, or until other countries put the pressure on, it's only going to get worse.

The littering here is ASTOUNDING. I see people throw entire garbage bags to the side like its nothing, and no one bats an eye

We were talking about "Climate Change" and one student was particularly worried about it (2012 had just come out).  Anyway, as a "time out" from class, I suggested as a topic what if all private cars were elimnated, not just in China but world-wide, leaving only emergency and  public tarnasportation , etc. for a period of 10 years or so, until the CO2 levels went down.
NO ONE approved the idea (40+ sutednts!) all saying just how "inconvenient" it would be, etc.  When I asked then how can we lower green house gasses, they pretty much agreed that the government would think of something.
Looks like Urumqi will soon be beach front property.....

I was shocked at garbage every where. I rented motorcycle and drove for 3 days in rural China. I do not see cobra. That made my day. Once in  small village I see young woman washing in bay. I love my women wet. The place I stop at for a beer is her familys. It is poor. I look at the bay and it is just covered in garbage, mostly floating plastic bags etc. I see many places along the road have small piles of garbage. The country is filled with litter. OMG I write like translator,, me tarzan you chinese

I wonder what they will do when they discover they cannot breathe RMB.

You are making generalizations.  Obviously you are not well traveled inside the country.

BradB,

I back-packed China for a year and can tell you that pollution is a common sight. From Lhasa all the way to Dallian (except places like Hangzhou where they constanly cleaning the streets). I ended up teaching in a rural village and was shocked when I saw teachers standing outside the school littering.....surely the problem starts there?

Let me ask you this: why does the West treat developing countries like their toxic site?

  
Localla,

I really don’t understand what you are going on about – the discussion wasn’t about ‘how beautiful Chinese scenery is’ but on toxic dumping hence hygiene and cleanliness.

I think you really are oversensitive about anything negative said about China and I’m not going to get into a ‘’chain-forum-debate/insulting match’’ with you as I have better things to do.

For the record, I’m a foreigner who respects China and its people. I may not be Chinese but China is my home (I’m an executive who is permanently based in Beijing).

Please do however remember that criticism is healthy as it leads to change which more often than not means progress – Nobody here is a ‘’China Hater’’ (which is something you obviously feel you need to come here every day and defend your country)…and if there are any such people (or they do not respect their ‘host country’) I sincerely hope that they go home and/or do not use this forum.
 
Also, if you would like to see more positive things said about China, I suggest you post questions orientated on positive things in and around China’s.

Most things in this country can be summed up with a simple lack of education,  or simply mis-education.
People see everyone littering then they will too, unless some has taught them differently.
But I will say that from what I have seen it is mostly the industrial complex here that does the lions share of bad stuff.

Short sightedness and apathy. 

I believe it is lack of education.  Remember, the main educator in the country is the government.  The same government that downplays and denies any problems in China.  They tell the people that everything is fine and China is wonderful and foreign nations are awful.  If the common Chinese people had any inkling of the health and pollution standards outside their country, I am convinced they would start to change.  But that possiblity is unlikely, considering who has control of the media in China.

The way you generalize is a bit arrogant. This country has 1.3+ billion people. And I'm sure most of them do not  intentionally treat their country like a toxic waste dump. Blame the companies that manage trash collection and such. Sometimes, the unavailabilty of a trashcan can give one the urge to litter, since in everyone's mind it's just one piece of trash.

Just because you saw a few random people ignore the trashcans and litter without remorse doesn't mean everyone is like that. I'm very sure every country has people that are completely oblivious to good methods of trash disposal. 

So blame the community leaders for not sensitizing people and providing trashcans. Don't go blatantly calling people uneducated. Make it seem like you've never littered in your life. ''The first to cast a stone...'' 

I mostly do the tier 2-4 cities, where the money wave is hitting  now.

You guys are right, everyone litters here. I even picked up the habit to some extent and had to break myself of it. However unlike western countries, they have a plethora of people that come and sweep it up everyday. In a strange way, I think it creates unskilled employment.

While there is a lot of litter around in alot of places on the East Coast, drive across the Gobi desert. I drove from Dunhuang to Urumchi once and it was litter free. Miles and Miles of Nothing. Very Pristine.

Dont Judge all of China by the Eastern Seaboard.

As for Global warming, I think its all a croc. I see the proponents of theory  have changed  the term to "climate change" when the data became inconvenient.. The hockey stick on the graph in CO2 levels, goes away when you look back millenia. Its just another way for governments to tax and spend.

Over the past 10 years, I have lived and worked in over 20 towns all over China, and have also travelled to about a hundred towns and cities in many different countries. The Chinese cities are by far the dirtiest I have ever come across. While most countries at least make the appearance of cleaning up, China just doesn't care.

Most people I have observed litter. Period. On the streets, out the car windows, in the resturants, in the stores...everywhere. It is a constant battle to keep my classroom clean. The general mindset is, "Someone else will pick it up."

I was driving down the road the other day in Changsha, and there was a taxi in front of us. All of a sudden, from out of the passenger window, comes a flurry of paper. It looked like 3 or 4 sheets of notebook paper which had been torn into fourths! So, it was like 16 pieces of paper thrown out the window onto the street. This took thought. This took effort. It wasn't like someone rolled down the window and the paper got sucked out by the change in pressure. It was deliberately ripped up and thrown out. Multiply that by hundreds of thousands, and there begins to be a serious problem.

But, hey, soon, someone in a day-glo orange vest will come along and sweep it up. Talk about job security!

they dont understand the concept of cause and effect..... yet

Why do you treat the English Language with no pride?

Excellent question bill. Let's look at a mini-scale example of that..the slob students that do not clean up after themselves,leaves lots of garbage in the classrooms,etc. where I work. Ridiculous. No pride!

No conscience. Part of me wonders if there's such a thing as hereditary sociopathy. Too many people here exhibit the traits of sociopaths.

At the end of the day it mainly comes down to lack of education. It's getting better amongst well educated Chinese people, but for the most part people who grew up in rural China really have no concept what they are doing is bad.

I can't even count the number of times I've seen people setting garbage on fire and kids running around and playing right next to it, inhaling all the fumes.  When you see something like that this only then do you realize just how uneducated a lot of people in China are in regards to health.