Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
To be clear, China is not doing anything much worse or much different
then Northern oil practices, except for its fl agrant indifference to politi-
cal, civic, human, and environmental rights in parts of Africa and Asia,
where civil society is weakened by authoritarian regimes and where
Northern fi rms operate with caution due to concerns of negative public-
ity campaigns by environmental and human rights activists. For more
than a decade, community demands for employment, healthy environ-
ments, and global justice have been presented to Northern multinationals
and state leaders worldwide with only limited, and rarely just, remedy.
Moreover, it was the practices of Northern multinationals and the poli-
cies, austerity measurements, privatization demands, and exclusionary
practices of the global North that led nations in the South to cultivate
investment and to seek loans from China. China's entry into Africa, in
particular, is due primarily to Eurocentric neoliberal policies that pushed
for privatization and open markets, contends Chuen (2008), who argues
for regulating the rise of global neoliberal practices, rather than targeting
China specifi cally. Chuen's argument is supported here, though in this
case an end to fossil fuel use would be even more effective in reducing
the spread of confl ict and contamination.
Yet China's interpretation of environmental norms and human rights
may be the most problematic, and it warrants consideration, especially
if China's offi cials and perhaps its citizens have an anemic barometer on
these issues or have a high tolerance for civic abuse and injustice for
themselves, and perhaps even more so for others. In this, China repre-
sents an anomaly: China's global operations may be governed by a social
and environmental commitment that is greater than even their domestic
practices, unlike Northern corporations whose standards slip when oper-
ating abroad.
A “race to the bottom” is not likely to occur in regions populated by
grassroots activists, strong unions, Northern corporations, and populist
political leaders, who enable community mobilization and support envi-
ronmental and economic justice. Civil society will continue organizing
in fi elds, in kitchens, or at international venues to eradicate injustice, to
improve environmental health standards, and to demand local employ-
ment, just working conditions, community projects, and a participatory
role in oil-related decisions. They will do so until effective and enforce-
able transnational codes that honor environmental and global justice
are achieved worldwide or until an alternative to petroleum-based
products are identifi ed. But that is a tall order, and many “ifs” ensue. If
more political leaders adopt populist and participatory ideology, greater
