It’s uncomfortable. As a thousand sets of eyes begin to tear up, surgical masks around mouths start to feel as if they are becoming looser, almost pointless. A dark haze continuously does a 360 around bodies. Nausea overtakes stomachs causing them to churn, as the surrounding horrid odors amongst the area are taken in with each breath. The water that flows from faucets is infectious, containing health hazardous chemicals. Pollution and water toxins have now become inescapable.
It may not have come up as a first or last resort guess, but this eerie scenario uniquely depicts mainland China; specifically the capital Beijing. Dismally it’s become an everyday occurrence for Beijing native’s to take a look out their windows and see a smoldering grey horizon line. The air contains only a few clean particles that hover amongst all the large structures, people, and foliage. Who is to blame for this? Large corporations are choosing China for its cheap labor and quick results. Therefore this December all fingers sternly pointed to the textile manufacturing community as they are the leading source of this phenomenon; emitting large amounts of health hazardous substances.
It was inevitable for this problem to occur considering the fact that Beijing holds more than 20 million people and is home to hundreds of different factories. Just think, when haven’t we all seen a sticker with the three letter phrase “Made in China”? Minnetonka’s Chinese teacher Mr. Delmain stood out as a credible source as he goes to Beijing twice a year. Being asked if the pollution in the air is easily depicted he responded saying “You can’t miss it. It’s extremely evident as a murky foggy haze that won’t even go unnoticed by your taste buds.” The multitude of factories emit large amounts of smoke and dump wastewater wherever they please, affecting not only the employees, but the whole city. When being asked if he was aware that brand name companies such as Calvin Klein were being exploited for dumping cancer causing chemicals into the water supply lines he stated that he was unaware of this, but this wasn’t surprising news.
Levi’s, Calvin Klein, and Gap are prosperous brands, as their products are featured worldwide. After some sleuthing Greenpeace International confirmed that “name” brands such as Levi’s, are “exploiting complex wastewater systems to hide scrutiny of their manufacturing processes.” Long story short they have been deviously wheedling their way out of having textile facilities tested. In return this contaminates all sources of safe drinking water
Beijing is already highly polluted and won’t be able to completely renew the air, so why is so much attention being called towards industrial waste? Wastewater treatment plants found shocking results of organ damaging and cancer-causing chemicals flowing throughout the water. Communities don’t even feel comfortable boiling their faucet water to purify it; instead they rely on the local government to deliver drinking water.
This has been going on for years, yet many companies are still afloat. Although they source their products within the main industrial zones, it is nearly impossible to track exactly which company it directly came from, therefore it remains inescapable.
