The Effects of Air Pollution From China on the United States

According to a report by the New York Times: "No country in history has emerged as a major industrial power without creating a legacy of environmental damage that can take decades and big dollops of public wealth to undo." The Times was referring to China's ongoing struggle to reconcile massive industrial and economic growth with the environmental carnage wreaked by heavy industrial pollution. The Times goes on to put a fine point on the scope of the environmental issues facing the country, saying "environmental degradation is now so severe, with such stark domestic and international repercussions, that pollution poses not only a major long-term burden on the Chinese public, but also an acute political challenge to the ruling Communist Party." Air pollution from China is already reaching the United States and its effects are only beginning to be understood (see Reference 1).

Contributions to Climate Change in the U.S.

• According to the Worldwatch Institute, "Climate-altering pollution from China is traveling across the Pacific Ocean and ending up on the West Coast of the United States." The Institute says that this pollution is generally particulate, black carbon soot from auto exhaust and agricultural burning carried by winds across the Pacific Ocean. Black carbon soot, the Institute says, traps sunlight and heats the upper atmosphere, which has, potentially, contributed to warmer spring temperatures in the Western United States (see Reference 2).

Ozone and Chemical Pollutants Increasing

• It is no secret that large cities in the United State produce plenty of pollutants of their own, but, according to Facts and Details, many experts predict that in 2010, one-third of the ozone in Los Angeles will have originated in Asia, with a large percentage of that coming from China. Also, some estimates peg China's contribution to global mercury emissions as high as 28 percent. Mercury can fall to the earth with rain and enter water supplies, where it can end up in fish consumed by humans. Mercury also contributes to acid rain. American health officials also estimate that some 25 percent of the non-ozone air pollution found in Los Angeles originated in China and that that amount is increasing by five to 10 percent each year (see Reference 3).

Weather Patterns

• According to Science Daily, huge clouds of dust, chemicals, aerosols and trace metals from industrial activities in China and India are affecting storm patterns in the Pacific Ocean. Science Daily says that scientists from Texas A&M University have shown that aerosols, "Because of various climate conditions... can affect the droplets in clouds and can actually change the dynamics of the clouds themselves," contributing to an increase large storms in the Pacific, possibly by as much as 50 percent. These storms also travel far across the globe, carrying pollutants with them to be deposited in far-flung locations (see Reference 4).