I can only nod my head in agreement at what you said about the garbage burning. It must be that time of year or something because the same thing was happening at my university today also. There I am after the midday break riding my bike at a pretty good clip to get to the other side of the campus - got the old heart pumping pretty good and breathing pretty deeply. Suddenly I realize I'm breathing in a lot more than oxygen. The closer I got to my college the worse it got. Finally, after parking my bike and walking to my office, I was nearly overcome with nausea by the chemical stench. I couldn't help wondering what kind of a brew I was breathing in and how it was going to affect my health in the long run.

Sadly, there seems to be no accountability for such actions as burning material that threatens everyone's health within a distance of, well, no telling how far - guess it depends on the wind patterns on any given day. Of course if we start talking about the environmental problems here, we're opening up a real can of worms. Basically, though, we're confronted with a serious choice every day that we hang out in China. Seriously. I mean I'm constantly having to ask myself if I've made the right choice to stay here long term. I'm not getting any younger and I may become a statistic before too long, and the statistics just in terms of respiratory related deaths and sicknesses are staggering. The latest figures include 350,000 deaths annually due to pollution caused respiratory illnesses. Harmonious society, indeed.

Actually, whether or not I am reaching any of my students in terms of spreading environmental awareness is one of the benchmarks I use to determine if I'm actually making a difference by being here. Recently I determined I may be getting through to only about one out of a hundred of them. Whether or not that one student has the balls to seriously try to spread environmentalism is pretty iffy.

Lest I get too carried away though, let me confine myself to the question of whether or not as a teacher considering coming to China it's a choice you really want to make. If you're a staunch environmentalist, or even slowly developing such a consciousness, you may want to take the fact that China is an ecological nightmare into consideration - hmmm, make that an ecologists nightmare. Don't get fooled into those pretty labels they like to give their cities: Green city! Clean city! Garden city! Flower city! The list goes on, and basically it's just a lot of hype and hope for the future that hasn't exactly materialized and probably won't before it's far too late for all of us. Yes, there is a small grass roots environmental movement emerging in China, but don't expect the Chinese to sacrifice much in the way of growth just for the sake of what for them is quite conceptual.

Meanwhile, fellow FTs, don't breathe too deeply - you may not live to regret it. And, Silverboy, I guess we could say it was not a good day for FTs in China today. Maybe I'll start wearing a gas mask when I ride my bike. Might have to get some blinders too, lest I see too much that just plain bums me out.