Master and Commander

The manufacture of automobile tires is a complex process. Natural rubber is still frequently used, harvested mostly in Southeast Asia, but synthetic rubber is also common, constructed from a variety of petrochemicals such as polybutadiene and isobutylene. Actually, tires often combine multiple chemicals to find the right balance of elasticity and strength. In addition to the rubbers, their curing process requires a complex mix of carbon, silica, sulphur, and other chemicals that only a team of research scientists could perfect.

So where do these chemicals come from? Increasingly they come from China, where, for example Eliokem now produces Wingstay L phenolic antioxidant in Ningbo, China. Meanwhile Bridgestone has built four tire plants directly in China--Tianjin, Wuxi, Huizhou and Shenyang--might as well be close to the source.

This is all quite interesting because according to Germany's Der Spiegel, China is now "the world's toxic waste dump." On November 13 of last year a petro-chemical plant exploded in the city of Jilin, killing five and forcing water to be cut off to the 4.6 million people living in the city of Harbin. Der Spiegel writes, "According to official statistics, 350 Chinese die each day in industrial accidents, but the unofficial figure is likely to be much higher."

More recently, the Los Angeles Times did a story on Huashui, China where thousands of villagers battled police in April of last year while protesting the devastation of their farm land by local chemical factories. Many protesters remain in jail, but the factories were removed--at least for the time being.

This all came to mind the other day when a woman yapping on her cell phone nearly rolled me over in her Lincoln Navigator while I tried to cross Ventura Blvd--and yes I did have the green. On the Navigator website one sees the 50,000$ monstrosity in the middle of a desert completely paved with cement blocks, with cirrus cloud streaked sky above and mountains in the distance. Perhaps this endless driveway is what the commander of this boat dreams of inside tinted glass, surrounded by "premium leather and American walnut burl wood" trim, listening to soft rock on the "Soundmark® THX™ Certified Audio/Navigation System", comforted by a "Dual-zone Electronic Automatic Temperature Control (EATC)", consuming gas at 13 mpg.

Just like that other Navigator, whose venture of mass murder and pillage was honored with a federal holiday last week, dreamed that nothing but empty sea separated him from the wealth of East Asia. His calculations were a little off, but over 500 years later, progress has finally reached there anyway. The economic miracle now flows through China, like the dead fish flowing down the Songhua river. (image from bbc.co.uk)