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Effects of global warming being felt in China

Updated Sun. Apr. 22 2007 10:33 PM ET

CTV.ca News Staff

When it comes to the world's worst polluters, the United States still
leads the way, but China is set to soon take over as the largest
overall producer of greenhouse gases. Many are wondering if any steps
can be taken to ensure the country doesn't repeat the mistakes of the
West.

With China's growing population with growing wealth and mass
industrialization, the effects of global warming are already being
felt.

At the home of Li Wen Zhang in Langtougou, about 110 kilometres from
Beijing, years of warming temperatures have literally brought the
desert to Li's doorstep.

Dry conditions have turned his village's once-fertile farm fields into
a parched wasteland. His livestock live in sand dunes. Li's home is
almost covered over. A local river that once ran waist-deep with water
is now filled with sand.

"Some say I am like the fable of the old foolish man, trying to remove
a mountain," he says.

The climate in China has changed quickly. Scientists estimate that in
the last 50 years, the temperature in the populous country has
increased by one degree Celsius.

That may not seem like a lot, but it has devastated this region. A
local riverbed, for example, once flowed with water waist high; now it
flows mostly with sand.

Chinese cities are also feeling the stifling effects of global
warming. If it's not sand storms choking Beijing and other cities,
it's heavy pollution causing problems. Many airports have been forced
to close for hours at a time because pilots couldn't see through the
soup of haze.

The country's growing use of coal for energy has experts predicting
that by year's end, China will be the world's largest overall producer
of greenhouse gases, surpassing the U.S. -- although the U.S., Canada,
Australia and Luxemburg still produce far more greenhouse gases on a
per capita basis.

With international pressure mounting, China is starting to turn to
alternative energy sources. China is building windmill farms that
house more than 300,000 turbines. However, it also opens up a new coal-
fired power plant every week.

The government also plans to have its citizens curb electricity use by
20 per cent. But with a growing middle class consuming more power than
ever, few expect targets to be met.

"If there's only target without any implementation policy, the target
means nothing," said Ai Lun Yang of Greenpeace.

Chinese officials are urging the world to be patient, arguing it is
still a developing country that is faced with more pressing problems
like poverty.

In Li's village, the government donates thousands of trees to act as a
buffer against the desert.

But it will have to do far more to prevent China from becoming the
world's largest climate polluter -- and to control the damage that
global warming-driven climate change is causing.