China Says Over 3 Million Hectares of Land Too Polluted to Farm

A fine example of "less regulation is good for capitalism" but not so good for a society

China Says Over 3 Million Hectares of Land Too Polluted to Farm

The area of China's contaminated land is about the same size as Belgium. Wang said no more planting would be allowed on it as the government was determined to prevent toxic metals entering the food chain.

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and now China will have to spend more money to buy food for it's ever-increasing population. China has now reached the bottom limit of land available for farming to feed its people

China is basically insane so it is kind of expected.

They have a giant police state that controls what you can think but when it comes to anything else the less they know the better.

Hopefully the severe problems they are experiencing as a result of their crappy environmental regulation will result in a major, nationwide overhaul of how they do things. They're hopefully learning that running dirty doesn't actually end up cheaper in the long run.

Somerville said:

A fine example of "less regulation is good for capitalism" but not so good for a society

and now China will have to spend more money to buy food for it's ever-increasing population. China has now reached the bottom limit of land available for farming to feed its people

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This is what happens when you have breakneck development and no EPA.

Remember that America used to be able to light its rivers on fire, park ships in harbors and let the polluted water kill all the barnacles and had air pollution so bad that people couldn't see buildings a few blocks down the road.

Somerville said:

A fine example of "less regulation is good for capitalism" but not so good for a society



and now China will have to spend more money to buy food for it's ever-increasing population. China has now reached the bottom limit of land available for farming to feed its people

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It seems like a stance that looks for a proper amount of regulation is too nuanced for most folks on this site.

obvious Child said:

This is what happens when you have breakneck development and no EPA.

Remember that America used to be able to light its rivers on fire, park ships in harbors and let the polluted water kill all the barnacles and had air pollution so bad that people couldn't see buildings a few blocks down the road.

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I remember when the Detroit River caught on fire.

China is such a huge threat to the environment that it can take the whole rest of the world down with it. The Three Gorges Dam, the acid rain from it coal burning, the fact that the environmental disruptions just enhance it's likelihood of creating more deadly diseases.

This latest claim is nothing compared to the damage done during the Great Leap Forward where they destroyed so much thru GIANT failed irrigation projects, dams, mining, deforestation, farming of marginal lands, and their continued use of unregulated chemicals in agriculture and manufacturing. Think of the govt exploitation for all those projects...where Mao was trying to 'best' Russia....and then think of desperate starving people exploiting everything even more.

The free market will take care of it. When the farmland is too polluted then the population of China will finally decrease. The technology they'll develop to cleanup the mess will result in another boom for China in the future.