Commentary

Environmental news in the latter half of 2015 has been characterized by an upsurge of discouraging stories worldwide, not least from China. Despite the recent slowdown in economic growth, there have been industrial accidents and unprecedented air quality issues plaguing the country. However, there is at least one local environmental story that appears to defy this bleak trend. In December of 2015, the highly polluted town of Guiyu was suddenly vacated, and all of the informal hazardous waste recycling that had been polluting the soil, the water, and the bodies of young children, came to a halt.