China's Contribution to Climate Change
China may be the rousing giant of global warming. The country ranks first in the world in coal consumption, and large regions are suffering from drought, failing crops and sandstorms. In the southwestern province of Guangdong, a six-year drought has turned rice paddies to dust and emptied fish ponds and wells that have sustained the people for centuries. Water tables have dropped so low in Guangdong that many towns no longer have the water pressure needed for indoor plumbing, forcing residents to wash clothes in drying and increasingly polluted rivers. In Daqiao village, pictured here, a 55-year-old man said that the river that flowed under the picturesque arched bridge for which the town was named was at the lowest level he'd seen in his life. While China’s leaders remain fixed on rapid development and increasing energy use, first steps are being made to curb emissions and seek alternative energies.