The continued rape of the environment and endangered species in the PRC.
3 page article
There has only been one, unconfirmed, sighting this year.
Photo: Chinese Academy of Science
[url=http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/on-the-trail-of-the-imperiled-yangtze-dolphin/2006/12/02/1164777847487.html]Few people outside China have heard of the baiji, a light grey, long-snouted river dolphin that relies on sonar rather than its eyes to navigate through the murky Yangtze water. But even more than the panda, the demise of this mammal illustrates the sacrifices that the world’s most populous country has made in its race to grow richer.
In the 1950s, there were thousands of baiji in the Yangtze. By 1994, the number fell below 100. This year, there has only been one, unconfirmed, sighting.
On board the Kekao-1 survey boat, it is not hard to see reasons for the decline. As commerce booms, the Yangtze has grown thick with container ships, coal barges and speed boats, whose hulls and propellers can run down or tear up the dolphins. Others have been blown up by bombs, electrocuted or snarled on 1000 metre-long lines of hooks set by local fisherman who use unorthodox and illegal methods to boost catches.[/url]
i have often thought that they should be totally denied entry to the WTO and any other august bodies such as WHO, etc, until they do actually play by the same rules as other countries. we are shooting ourselves in the foot both economically and more importantly, environmentally, by allowing the most populous nation on earth to continue the rape and pillage of their own backyard in ways that totally f…ks up the whole world’s ecological bank balance.
until they instigate and adhere to the same strict environmental and human rights requirements as the developed world, they should be quite properely and forcefully told to shut the f…k up and stand in the corner with a white pointed hat on. the issue with the dolphins is just one event in a whole litany of crimes againt the earth that continue to be perpetrted by these shameless ‘reformed’ communists. and no, it is not an internal affair, china: you are part of the whole world, and your actions impact on the whole world, so play by the same rules and maybe you can come and sit at the table with the adults when you have shown that you are one.
perhaps they could start by educating the populace… oh, i forgot, an educated populace can’t be manipulated and pushed around like a backwards one can. and anyway, that would cost money, wouldn’t it, money that i as a local official could not then spend on my house and my wives’ houses and my escape tunnel to america… i had better stop lest i get carried away and say something truly meaningful.
