Tag Archives: china

GM to help pollution problems in China through electric cars

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Image Courtesy of Technorati

On Tuesday, vehicle maker General Motors (GM) announced its plan to develop electric cars in China through a joint venture with China’s biggest auto company, the Shanghai Automotive Industry. (The New York Times). GM is currently China’s largest foreign maker of cars, with 2.2 million cars sold in 2010 (USA Today). However, part of this joint venture is the requirement to transfer GM’s technology on electric cars to the venture, thus giving Chinese automakers access to these technology (The New York Times).

In today’s world, sustainability is a key factor in any product. As sustainability is put on the spotlight, many manufactures attempt to produce “green” products: products that are environmentally friendly. According to U.S. Energy Information Administration, China tops the charts with 7.7 million tons of Carbon Dioxide emissions in 2009. As a result, China is trying to attract automobile makers to share their technology on electric cars in hopes of improving China’s pollution problems.

I believe GM’s decision is a wise one. Although GM is the largest foreign car manufacture at the moment, developing this joint venture will allow GM to collect even more market share and spend the increased revenue on further research for environmental-friendly technology.

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Recycling is the way to go, but what about recycling buns?

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Picture courtesy of Bangkok Post

In today’s world, recycling is everywhere. Each conference, each park, and each shopping mall have recycling bins, hoping to encourage everyone to recycle.

China, the world’s top polluter, is also recycling. However, other than paper and plastic bottles, China is recycling buns. There has been many reports that bun suppliers in China recycle buns that are expired. They collect the “stale buns into a vat, add water and flour”, and then repackage them as if they are fresh and sells them (The New York Times). These “tasty” buns would definitely carry a blast!

After China’s incident of baby milk containing melamine that infected more than 300,000 babies, it seems like the Chinese have not learned their lesson yet.

Steamed buns are found on the breakfast menu of every Chinese. Since there is a big demand in China, recycling the buns are definitely a great idea, but one that is surely unethical. Products have an expiry date for a purpose, and that purpose is to prevent sickness. By recycling the buns, companies may earn more money, but consumers are getting hurt. Companies should produce products that assist consumers, not hurt them.

Source: The New York Times

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