Firenze Sage: Workers’ paradise [China’s dead pigs]

The heady optimism of four years ago has now given way to more sober views, thanks to the accretion of facts. Facts like 16,000 dead pigs floating down Shanghaiâ€s Whampoa river in March. Or the worst air pollution on record in Beijing in January, with levels of tiny particulate matter reaching levels 25 times higher than the standard in the U. S. Or 80% of the East China Sea lost to fishing because of the pollution, according to Elizabeth Economy of the Council on Foreign Relations. Or 1.2 million premature deaths due to air pollution, according to the Global Burden of Disease Study.

Another nugget: “A recent social media campaign led by locals and international activists shed light on the growing phenomena of ‘cancer villagesâ€â€”areas where water pollution is so bad that it has led to a sharp rise in diseases like stomach cancer,” wrote Thomas Thompson last month in Foreign Affairs. “The China Geological Survey now estimates that 90% of Chinaâ€s cities depend on polluted groundwater supplies. Water that has been purified at treatment plants is often recontaminated en route to homes.”

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Firenze Sage:  The worker’s paradise.     Four More Years by Firenze Sage