Innocent Byproduct

I understand the air in Beijing isn't as bad as it looks, what with the humidity and all. It will be interesting to monitor the post-Olympic reports of air pollution once all the toy factories go back to work, all the cars are liberated, and construction on the outlying coal fired power plants resumes.

It is hard to imagine the need for a new coal plant each week for 5 years. Coal units are fairly high output; as I understand it, 300MW+ each, and in general a given site will employ 4 to 6 of these. That is, a 2,100MW plant is described as 6X350...so I don't know if this 'one plant per week' means one 350MW unit or a 2,100MW plant.

It really matters not; it's a staggering statistic either way. Chinese coal underwrites your Malibu Stacy doll collection, your 2008 Detroit Redwing bobbleheads, and your cat's fish and melamine-laced pull-toys. But more importantly, it underwrites Zaozhuang's first transmission line. Your need to collect trinkets and their need for refrigeration are, clearly, both worthy end products. And by gifting that new doll to your 8 year old niece for her birthday, the 'innocent bystander' in all this, you've also given her and everyone else in this biosphere a healthy dose of mercury, carbon dioxide, arsenic, lead, and sulfur dioxide.

Am I attacking innocent little American girls? Yes! Because they grow up to be consumers; not women, not sentient beings, but consumptive units, numbers marked down by grease pencils on Chinese ledgers or bytes in spreadsheets on Nassau Street. She becomes an innocent byproduct of the system. A consumer. Not a citizen.