Layin' Down the Law

Alright, I have tons of writing left to do before Friday, and I'm in a mad rush to do so, but I just saw this article and it really made me angry, so I just had to share.

It is entitled Drowning the Tiger Leaping Gorge, and is about plans by the local Chinese governments to build dams high along the Yangtze river in the Yunnan province.

These dams would effectively flood portions of the Tiger Leaping Gorge, a canyon deeper than the Grand Canyon in Arizona in places. The local government there must realize that the tourism industry in that location is enormous, especially with visits to Tiger Leaping Rock, where a tiger was said to have bounded across the river to avoid capture which is already covered during seasonal highs in the water level.

And the kicker is, according to this article, the energy isn't even required for China. They are looking at exporting their excess energy from hydroelectric dams down into other SE Asian countries (which they already do some of), especially a growing electricity market in Thailand.

The Chinese government should be ashamed at itself for its dedication to blind development without consideration of environmental consequences. This pristine land is part of the world's heritage, and to flood it is absolutely reprehensible. I hate that there is basically nothing that anybody can do about it either, except to just get angrier at the Chinese government, which doesn't really solve anything...

My message to China: think about the overall consequences of your actions, for pete's sake. After 20+ years of unconstrained development, isn't it time for some glasnost and reflection on how to develop BETTER?