As I was saying about China

I talked about how bad China's environmental/pollution situation is getting, and how I think that this will eventually (but not inevitably) lead to social unrest and perhaps make the government shaky. We'll see. But there was this today:

Lead scares highlight China's environmental dilemma

The government appears to know what I'm thinking about:

"Beginning last year, China also started requiring local governments to regularly disclose key environmental information to the public. "That is good news. Affected people have the right to know what it going on," said Ma Jun, who runs the independent Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs in Beijing. But he acknowledged that fulfilling that right would entail a sea change in how China's secretive Communist Party-dominated governance system actually operates.

For example, a 2007 World Bank report said 750,000 Chinese die prematurely each year due to air and water pollution -- a figure edited out of final versions of the report, reportedly after China warned it could cause social unrest.

Meanwhile, environmental campaigners face continued harassment and even arrest."

See what I mean? It only takes one spark to start a fire if all the other conditions are fire-friendly.