Yet another successful American export product is facing stiff competition from China: pollution. China, where factories are springing up like dandelions and whose labor force is cheap and plentiful, is able to churn out pollution at an unprecedented rate. And the prices! Now you can afford to get emphysema and lung cancer. Once, America was the world leader in the bad-air industry — so much so, a recent Nova episode credited export of American pollution as a contributor to the disastrous famine in Ethiopia in the 1980s. Ah, those heady days of world power …
Today, sadly, China has surged ahead in the game and left America in a paltry second place. A recent AP article points to China as the producer of Seattle’s hazy new skyline. But a message to all you Grist office workers, from here in Los Angeles: Before you go bragging about your beautiful new orangey red sunsets, remember that down here our smog is homegrown, and yours has that little sticker that says “Made In China.”
