Environment & Energy
Related: About this forumHundreds of thousands of dead fish float to the surface of two Chinese rivers
By Jake Maxwell Watts
Last week was not a good time to be a fish in Yunnan. Just a few days apart, the southern Chinese province suffered two mass die-offsaround 100 tons of fish on a Nanpan River reservoir and a massive 1,200 tons on the Sinan River.
The causes are elusive, but its the fourth time that fish have died on the Nanpan in as many years. A previous incident in October 2009 raised suspicions that a chemical plant upriver may have been responsible. Pointing fingers seems like a natural response, given previous casesjust last week eight people were arrested, including legal representatives of a mining company, for deliberately dumping chemicals in another local river. And its not just Yunnan. A policeman who saved a 14-year-old girl from a Wenzhou city river on Friday also ended up in hospital from exposure to pollution.
Chinas rivers are under assault on multiple fronts. In attempt to supply a power hungry country and reduce dependence on coal, Beijing is pursuing a relentless program of hydropower projects, many of which are in Yunnan province. Damming, combined with heavy demand for water from farmers, has caused the disappearance of over half of Chinas 50,000 rivers in the last 20 years.
The level of anger among Chinese people is palpable, as recent protests have shown. One last year even ended in a riot. Beijing has doled out fines to misbehaving countries and promised to do more by holding party officials responsible, but another batch of dead fish will do nothing to help its image, whatever the cause.
http://qz.com/88420/thousands-of-fish-float-to-the-surface-of-a-chinese-river-in-another-mystery-mass-death/
gtar100
(4,192 posts)When the negatives of capitalism become inescapable, what will the "People's" Republic do?
What happened here is just sick, sick, sick. It's no mystery to somebody who knows exactly what happened. I can only hope that someone with a conscience stands up and exposes the truth. China has quickly become the proving ground of unfettered capitalism, with all the positives and the negatives. At least here in the US we have the decency to dump our shit in our neighbor's yard... out of sight, out of mind (that was sarcasm, by the way).
SummerSnow
(12,608 posts)NickB79
(19,236 posts)Mmmmmmm.........