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One-Fifth of Chinas Air Pollution From Exports
Drifts Back to the U.S.
By Breanna Draxler | January 21, 2014 5:13 pm
The scenic Shanghai sky line. Image credit: hxdbzxy/Shutterstock
China has met harsh criticism for its air pollution as of late, but now scientists have quantified just
how much of that pollution comes from industry outsourced from other countries. And, in a kind of
environmental karma, the numbers show that a lot of Chinas air pollution makes its way back to
the western U.S.
Nine scientists spent the last two years combing through economic and emissions data and found
that a good fraction of Chinas air pollution comes from the manufacture of products destined for
export: 36 percent of anthropogenic sulfur dioxide, 27 percent of nitrogen oxides, 22 percent of
carbon monoxide and 17 percent of black carbon. This means that other countries, like the Unites
States, are essentially sending their pollution production overseas. And some of the consequences
are just now becoming, er, clear.
Pollution Problem
In the U.S. in recent years, for example, a good chunk of the manufacturing sector has gotten
cleaned up and/or sent abroad, so air quality, especially on the East Coast, has improved. But
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3/16/2014 One-Fifth of China' s Air Pollution From Exports Drifts Back to the U.S. - D-brief | DiscoverMagazine.com
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much of that manufacturingand the pollution that comes with itwas outsourced to China. Some
of that pollution is now coming full circle, wafting over the Pacific Ocean on winds called
westerlies all the way to the West Coast of the U.S.
The study, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, shows that about 21
percent of Chinas export-related pollution makes its way to the States.
The L.A. Times sums up the problem:
While the United States has reaped some of the benefits of outsourcingcheaper cellphones,
televisions and appliances and big declines in air pollutionrising emissions in China have
paralyzed cities there with severe smog. The paper is a reminder that U.S. demand for cheap
imports from China has a way of blowing those environmental problems back at us, said Steve
Davis, an Earth system scientist at UC Irvine and co-author of the study. Its sort of a
boomerang effect, he said.
Geographic Burden
In the city of Los Angeles, as well as valleys and basins in the western U.S. where the pollution
tends to pool, the researchers found that residents experience on average one extra day a year
that violates national ozone standards. But since the West Coast is less densely populated than the
East, there are fewer Americans exposed to dangerous pollution levels today than when
manufacturing of American-consumed goods was largely on domestic soil.
And while the quantity of pollution reaching the western U.S. is sizable, it doesnt compare to the
amount of pollution the U.S. itself produces. As described in The New York Times,
The amount of air pollution in the Western United States resulting from emissions from China
is still very small compared with the amount produced by sources in the United States that
include traffic and domestic industries.
CATEGORIZED UNDER: ENVIRONMENT, TOP POSTS
MORE ABOUT: ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY, POLLUTION, SUSTAINABILITY
3/16/2014 One-Fifth of China' s Air Pollution From Exports Drifts Back to the U.S. - D-brief | DiscoverMagazine.com
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2 Comments D-brief Login
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R G 2 months ago
Any pollution anywhere is stupid. All need to stop it now.

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vishvarnay 2 months ago
What is really sick about this whole matter is.......China has no restrictions on emissions from
vehicles. And General Motors are more than happy to supply them with all the smog producing
chariots they can order.

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