“For China’s Environment, a Climate Suitable for Change; Air, Water Pollution Pose Health Risk, Experts Say, but Government, People Taking Action” By Jennifer Metz

From NRDC in the news. Thank you. China may explore new frontiers on global warming before we in the US do, thanks in part to the effectiveness of our Clean Air Act, the Chinese will have little choice not to do so.
Matt
When all eyes turned to Beijing during the 2008 Olympics, the headlines were just as much about the gray skies over the city as gold medals.

The smog in Beijing and other Chinese cities is a visible manifestation of a larger pollution problem, one that costs the country between 8 and 12 percent of GDP and thousands of lives each year, analysts estimate. And it’s not just affecting the air — all of China’s resources are threatened by pollution, leaving the nation in a state of environmental crisis, “one the world has become aware of,” Alex Wang, the director of the Natural Resources Defense Councils Environmental Law Program in China, said.

The global leader in carbon emissions, China faces both the problems of an advanced, industrialized country — like the air pollution from increased automobile use — and those of a developing country — like soil erosion. One of the greatest domestic environmental threats is the scarcity of clean, safe drinking water, observers said.

Watch related video here: http://abcnews.go.com/WN/chinas-environment-climate-suitable-change/story?id=12112119