global stewardship

[Soundguy]

Anyone else alarmed at the recent events in china... At last count, we have had 2 coal mine explosions a massive benzene leak, and now a cadmium leak in the last 30 day period.

I appreciate the chinese 'breakneck' spped int he global economy / industry race.. but any one else alarmed at the seeming lack of safeguards present...

Benzene and cadmium contamination are serious matters... I looke dup the effects of cadmium.. it was horrific.. I heare benzene makes it look like viatamins in comparison..

An ap articel i read said the cadmium was released from a foundry? anyone know if this foundry supplied tractor part raw materials?

soundguy

 

[n4807g]

Don't know about the foundry. China is undoubtedly growing without the environmental safeguards we now take for granted in the USA. However it wasn't many years ago that we had the same problems:

Love Canal
Cuyahoga River (fires)
Lake Erie was virtually dead
Boston Harbor still has tons of heavy metals in the muck on the bottom of the harbor.

Hopefully the Chinese will begin to put the same safeguards in place we now take for granted.

 

[Buckeye_Jim]

Having worked about 20 weeks in various parts of China installing hydrological monitoring systems, the most visable situation is the air pollution. Cement plants belch the dust. Small scale kilms make red bricks everywhere, they are all burning coal. Every wok in every home burns a coal bricket.

Pollution controls seem to non existent. In cities, people walk around with dust masks. People will smoke in confined places such as elevators.

Jim

 

[Bates]

We are fueling their breakneck expansion. We manufacture almost NOTHING in the U.S. anymore. It's not as if we have a choice in our spending, though. I challenge anybody to go shopping and find any common household items that aren't made in China that can be bought on a working man's salary.

The Chinese are good, hard working people and it's really starting to pay off for them (at our expense). You can't compete with people willing to do high quality work for a few bucks per day. Their tractors are probably the WORST quality thing that they produce. Thier electronic products are the best in the world.

 

[n4807g]

No doubt air pollution is a problem. They use what they have for energy. They have a lot of coal. Hopefully sooner than later they will address their growing environmental issues.

 

[n4807g]

Oh I dunno...I have one of those "worst" things they make. I disagree; the quality and workmanship is very good.

 

[milkman]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Anyone else alarmed at the recent events in china...
I appreciate the chinese 'breakneck' spped int he global economy / industry race.. but any one else alarmed at the seeming lack of safeguards present... )</font>

Seems our big corporations are not too concerned since they are moving there at 'breakneck' speed in the form of the largest auto assembly plant on the planet courtesy of GM.

 

[California]

It hasn't been long since US corporations gained some environmental sensitivity. Union Carbide's disaster in Bhopal was a worst-case example of what can happen when no one cares. They basically poisoned and killed everyone in a large neighborhood downwind from the plant.

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( An ap articel i read said the cadmium was released from a foundry? anyone know if this foundry supplied tractor part raw materials? )</font>

Back on topic - I'm only half kidding when I ask if those weird OEM lubricants that come in the Chinese tractors are China's hazardous waste disposal solution.

 

[Soundguy]

I realize we had those nice environmental problems ourselves.. the union carbide deal was a horrible one.

Any sign that the chinese gov't is moving to 'work' on this.. or is theeconomic growth still a little too important for them? ( I realize they are just trying to make a living and get ahead like everyone else... this isn't meanst as a 'slam' to the chinese ).

Soundguy

 

[LarryD]

I've been to many countries in my travels and environmental concerns, as well as employee safety, seem to take a back seat to production.

Had to remove a 20 ton chiller in Moscow, I told the local laborers to collect the glycol in drums for disposal, their supervisor told them to let it go in the storm drain.

There is a pipe manufacturing plant in Cairo that has an asbestos cloud leaving it that would contaminate half a state by our standards. I can't even begin to describe the air in the city from vehicle emissions.

Then there was India...

I guess my point is we only hear about these incidents when the media tells us (at least information is leaving China now) and that's usually only the catostrophic/extreme cases. There's a daily problem that surely adds up to a much greater concern.