"Amazing" Pollution pictures

[al8]

http://www.chinahush.com/2009/10/21/amazing-pictures-pollution-in-china/

I've been viewing these pictures of pollution in China. It has been circulating on the web and spurred debate, in a board that I sometimes visit in particular over the validity of industrialization in China and industrialization generally. I would really like someones take on these pictures. Especially the maoists or comrades knowledgeable about China and developments there. Is industrialization there beneficial in the long-term and is the environmental damage necessary and reparable?

I wouldn't be surprised that this were the direct result of the move away from balanced economic development and move to reliance on foreign investment to spur industry - repressing as a result worker and environmental considerations to better pave way for capital.

[Muzk]

These pictures make me sad ;_;

Profit, profit, profit...

China is the best example of imperialism, it's possible to make workers work for a long time for a low wage, and then ship it to first-world countries for maximum income :crying:

Will we ever be free?

[Jia]

Disgusting, these pictures are 3-4 years old now, the situation for them maybe improving (mostly with Wen Jibao focusing on these, his popularity base there is staggering) but the pollution is a matter that needs to be dealt with fast :blink:

[FreeFocus]

And people think this bullshit is acceptable because capitalism is somehow "progressive?" Give me a break. (even worse, some people consider China socialist..) Repulsive pictures, and it's stuff like this which should cause anyone to support green development within a socialist framework.

[Pawn Power]

Indeed the pollution in China is atrocious.

However, what worries me, and what I can most directly effect, is the pollution here in the US.

Right now, in the US media, there is tons of fear mongering about China in general. One of the latest scare tactics is China's industrial development and ensuing pollution (which is obviously very real). It is often framed as, "Watch out, China is destroying the planet!" Disregarding the enormous amount of pollution and environmental destruction taking place (also ignoring the fact that a lot of China's industry is geared to making products sold in America).

Just last year in Tennessee 1.1 BILLION gallons of coal ash sludge (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingston_Fossil_Plant_coal_fly_ash_slurry_spill) spilled in over 300 acres of land and into Emory River. This shit is super toxic and just generally disgusting.

Yep, that is a house covered in toxic goop. Its like a flood only its toxic and the liquidity of molasses.
http://conservationreport.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/home_fly-ash-flood.jpg