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Bao Steel, Shanghai, China Even though steel is an important resource, its creation process can be extremely harmful to the environment. China, one of the world's major developing nations, houses one of the biggest steel corporations in the world: Bao Steel. This company, with its vast reserves of coal, burns more than one can imagine for the manufacturing of steel. Burning lavish amounts of coal is bad enough, but the poor quality of the coal being burned by Bao Steel makes it even worse. Coal combustion produces greenhouse gases that trap in heat to the earth and are partially responsible for climate warming. Other byproducts of coal combustion are radioactive materials, sulfur oxides, and nitrogen oxides, all of which are harmful to human health. Although this may not seem to be a huge problem since China is all the way across the world, it is. These chemicals cause illnesses such as respiratory problems. Coal is also partly responsible for acid rain and smog. As more steel is being made, more coal is being burned to manufacture it. It doesn't help that coal burning is so popular. Demand for coal has been sharply rising in China, and, from 1990 to 2002, the amount of gases released has increased from 2.08 tons to 2.59 tons per capita. To clean coal waste up, China has done next to nothing. While the Chinese government knows that coal is a dangerous substance to mess with, they continue to burn vast amounts of it. Coal accounts for 70% of the nation's energy. The government claims that since China is still a developing nation, nothing can be done about it. Unfortunately, China is way behind on implementing new clean air policies, so a change to better the protection of the air is not likely to occur in the near future.
Selected Bibliography Barcott, Bruce. “Up in Smoke: The Bush Administration, the Big Power Companies and the Undoing of 30 Years of Clean-Air Policy.” New York Times Magazine, 4 April 2004, cover story, 38–45, 66, 73, 76–78.
Wanjun Wei. "Current Issues of China's Coal Industry: The Case of Shanxi." ACESA, April 2004. Weblink.
Bao Steel, Shanghai, China Pictures in the Gallery 
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