China's rainforests threatened by tire demand
The Chinese auto industry is booming, as you are surely aware by now. While many are concerned with the emissions of those vehicles, as they should be, there are myriads of other related problems to worry about. One problem which is cropping up relates to tire production, which, of course, requires rubber.Apparently, China's been importing lots of rubber for its growing number of tire factories from other countries which have already cleared land for the production of rubber. In order to reduce the amount of rubber that they need to import, China is looking to produce more rubber locally, but only has a limited area suitable for growing the rubber trees. For that reason, a good deal of rainforest land is being cleared to make way for more rubber plantations. The China Rubber Industry Association forecasts that natural rubber output will grow by 30 percent to 780,000 tons by 2010.
[Source: Just-Auto]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
GenWaylaid 1:57PM (4/07/2008)
Tire rubber still contains tree sap? I thought it was all synthetic by now.
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Diana Calvario 3:15PM (4/07/2008)
I can't believe it! Even new problems are now being "made in China"!
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steven 3:28PM (4/07/2008)
This begs the question if you cut a tree down to plant a tree.... OK, I guess that is not a question. Then there's the corollary: Is it OK to cut down the tress if they are shading your solar panels?
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