Imagine a country with a vibrant, bustling economy whose growth seems to know no bounds even in these trying times.¬† New business is springing up everywhere you look and there’s no end in sight.¬† Concrete, steel, ships, textiles, automobiles, you name it!¬† And those are just the big ticket items!

No, it’s not some fairytale land of make believe and puppy dogs… it’s China.¬† Home of all things manufactured!¬† Hell, the toothpicks I bought yesterday are from China!

China makes a lot of stuff.¬† It lasts well enough for my needs and it’s cheap.¬† Sounds like a good deal to me!

Well, there’s another side to the story.¬† This side’s a little uglier, but I think it needs to be said often and loud.¬† More people need to understand their part in it.

If you buy something new that’s cheap, you know that it’s because corners were cut.¬† Somewhere along the line something should have been done better but it wasn’t because that would make the end result more expensive and thus less desirable.¬† This is all well and good when it means that the party favor you paid $1 for falls apart at the end of the night, but what about the effects you never see?¬† (Globalization has a tendancy to remove us from the consequenses of our purchasing decisions)

What if there’s no one watching over my manufacturing process and making sure that certain guidelines are followed?¬† Why pay for all that expensive disposal of waste materials?¬† Today I read a NYT article (It’s a longie but a goodie) that stated:

“In many parts of China, factories and farms dump waste into surface water with few repercussions.¬† China’s environmental monitors say that one-third of all river water, and vast sections of China’s great lakes, the Tai, Chao and Dianchi, have water rated Grade V, the most degraded level, rendering it unfit for industrial or agricultural use.” (Italics added)

While we’re at it, why pay for solar, hydro or geothermal energy?¬† There’s enough cheap coal to last a long time!¬† Never mind the fact that only 1 percent of the country‚Äôs 560 million city dwellers breathe air considered safe by the European Union.

Now it’s all well and good to say “Oh, well the manufacturers should care more for their environment!”, or “Why doesn’t the government step in?” but when it comes down to it folks, it’s up to us as much as anyone else.

When you’re making purchasing decisions, take a bit of time to learn about what you’re buying.¬† You may be surprised.

Join next time for our next story, “The GDP and the ignored costs”!