The use of concrete exploded to fuel China’s rise. Now the costs of this weighty material are being counted.
China’s cities are sinking – apparent victims of their own success. Large swathes of the country’s population now live in major cities that are subsiding at more than 3mm (0.1in) per year, according to a recent study. Some areas are sinking by more than 45mm (1.7in) each year, such as parts of Beijing. And by 2120, around a quarter of China’s coastal land will be beneath sea-level, the researchers predict.
While there are a number of reasons for the subsidence, the researchers have pointed to the rapid rate of urban development as among the culprits. The huge amounts of groundwater abstraction needed to support urban populations alongside the weight of the buildings and city infrastructure were singled out by the researchers as contributing to the sinking.
It follows similar research in New York City that found the enormous weight of the concrete, glass and steel – an estimated 762 million tonnes – in the city’s skyscrapers were contributing to subsidence of the land they sit upon.
Both studies have shone a light on some of the unexpected effects of urban development. But the Chinese research in particular has highlighted just how rapidly China’s cities have developed and the scale of urban expansion in the city.
Really? We’re going to chastise China for using cement? Yes I know it produces CO2, but it’s pretty hard to build much without it. We’re talking basic stuff: buildings, hospitals, schools, bridges, sidewalks. These are basic needs of a modern society. And guess what? As more countries develop (see Africa) they’re all going to want the same things. Are we really going to say “no, not you, you don’t deserve a sidewalk, only we deserve a sidewalk”? Chastise then for burning coal, not basic necessities of modern life.
If you read this to the end they even change it to “world”.
mmmm you didn’t actually read the article, didja?
They start off with sinking before going to the good old mining and pollution problems. Thanks.
How do you read any of that and come to the conclusion that anyone is “chastising” China? The other poster is right, you either didn’t read it or are just a troll.
Pretty much the entire article is complaining that China is using too much concrete, from causing their cities to sink below sea level, to increased CO2 emissions.
The entire story is about how their increased concrete use is hurting themselves and the environment.
The article is using China as an example that increased concrete usage and its accompanying production is bad for the environment. The article is not chastising China for trying to provide for its “basic fucking needs of a modern society” by building “hospitals, schools, bridges, fucking sidewalks.”
I don’t think the article is actually all that critical. It might have been worth providing more context for why China is using that much concrete. However, even without that I think it’s fine.
The real problem I think is the headline. It frames China’s concrete use as an irrational mental illness which is just absurd. I’m betting that was the work of one of the BBC’s editors and not the actual author.
Developing countries should use modern technology. There’s no need for them to repeat the mistakes that the western world went through before better stuff was invented. Concrete is very carbon expensive and better ways of producing it, using it and avoiding it are popping up all the time currently.
Emm, what’s the modern equivalent to cement?
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I did! They start off with sinking before going to the old mining and pollution. Thanks.
Only China uses cement, everyone knows that.
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Removed, civility.
Removed, civility.