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Getting Beyond Us and Them

by William L. Chameides

Global change is upon us. The global village is shrinking while environmental problems like climate change are growing. Pointing a finger of blame—at ourselves or other countries—won’t solve these problems. To achieve lasting solutions, we need international cooperation and leadership.

In response to this need, I recently have been meeting with university and government officials overseas to establish a Duke international professional masters program in environmental management. This August, I signed a memorandum of understanding with the Higher Colleges of Technology of the United Arab Emirates, and The Energy and Resources Institute in New Dehli, India, to collaborate on the establishment of this program.

What I have seen and learned on my travels convinces me that the time is right to forge this new educational alliance.

Among my recent destinations was China, not exactly your poster child for environmental stewardship. As we all learned from the extensive coverage leading up to the Beijing Olympics, air and water quality there are deplorable. The culprit: rapid economic expansion without adequate environmental controls.

The World Bank has reportedly estimated that some 750,000 people die prematurely in China each year due to air and water pollution. I say “reportedly” because the estimate, intended for a report called “The Cost of Pollution in China,” was, according to media accounts, removed after it was challenged by the Chinese government. Whether or not the number of deaths is as high as 750,000, it is clearly quite large. By comparison, a 2004 report in the Journal of the American Medical Association estimates that the number of pollution-related deaths in the United States is about 55,000. Taking population into account, these estimates suggest that you are three times more likely to die of pollution in China than in the United States.

As it turns out, the Chinese aren’t the only ones bearing the burden of their decidedly non-green economic growth. Observations now link air pollution in the western United States to factories and power plants in China. And China is on the verge of passing the United States for the dubious distinction of being the world’s largest source of greenhouse gas pollution. (The United States still remains the greatest contributor, by far, to the current burden of greenhouse pollution already in the atmosphere, and its emissions per capita are much larger than that of China.)

Defective toys from China also have been in the headlines. In 2007 there were 231 recalls of children’s products in the United States. Most of those products came from China and most of the recalls were because of lead contamination—often from lead paint.

All of this is unacceptable. However, before Americans adopt too much righteous indignation, it might behoove us to look a little deeper.

Have you ever wondered what’s causing China’s pollution? A significant part of it comes from the manufacture of products we consume right here in the United States. By some estimates as much as 25 percent of China’s greenhouse gas emissions arise from the production of exported products, and the United States is by far the top destination for these exports. So, who is ultimately responsible for China’s greenhouse gas pollution? Is it all the responsibility of the Chinese, or should some of it get assigned to the United States? Not so obvious is it?

And what about those contaminated toys from China? Absolutely unacceptable. But there is another side to this story as well. U.S. companies dump 100,000 tons, perhaps more, of electronic waste (e-waste) in China each year. This dumping continues to occur despite the fact that the Chinese government has banned imports of e-waste. Much of the e-waste is disposed of in ways that lead to high levels of toxic metals in the air, water, and soil. In the city of Guiyu in Guangdong Province, where much of the e-waste is “recycled,” up to 80 percent of the children have lead poisoning. Who is responsible for that lead poisoning? The irresponsible processors of the e-waste? Certainly. But what about the U.S. companies that dump the products there in the first place?

My point is not to paint either the United States or China as the bad guys. In a global economy, finger pointing is pointless. All of us—whether we live in the United States, China, India, the United Arab Emirates or any other nation—play a role in environmental problems. And we all need to be a part of the solution.

Lasting solutions start with populating the world with effective and committed environmental managers. This is the stock and trade of the Nicholas School. It is exemplified by the high caliber of graduates—hailing from dozens of countries—we send forth as environmental leaders each year, and by initiatives like our International Marine Conservation Program, which brings nearly 50 international undergraduate and graduate students to the Duke Marine Lab each summer to learn skills and knowledge they take back to their homelands to help solve environmental problems there.

The new Duke international professional masters program in environmental management will build on this foundation. It is another step forward in the Nicholas School’s continued evolution as a global leader in forging a sustainable future.

William L. Chameides is dean of the Nicholas School and professor of the environment..