Environmental Activism in China I. Introduction China witnesses rapid economic growth after the economic reform in 1978. This economic development brings people great wealth and also a huge cost on the environment. Water and air pollution are among most serious environmental problems, others like soil retrogression and degradation, deforestation, and human health problems coming with these issues are becoming more severe too. In addition, due to China’s biggest population on earth, the impact of these pollutions goes beyond border and becomes a global issue too. However, there is comfort to know that western developed countries like United States, United Kingdom and Japan have been through serious environmental issues too and are able to reverse them. This method is interpreted as “pollute first, control later” in Chinese context, which means environmental cost is inevitable when developing Chinese economy, and measures would be taken towards this environmental cost later with a more solid economic base than before. II. From Small Cities to Metropolitans Now China’s achievements in economic growth are well known to the whole world, as well as a high environmental cost. Tianying, China, a small city that might appear unfamiliar to most native Chinese, is known by environmentalists for its place among the worst cities of lead poisoning. Also in the watch list is Linfen, China, a city always in thick grey or even black fog, is so polluted that would never
The world economy has improved rapidly as a result of globalization in past decades. However, many environmental problems began to emerge during the economic boom. Especially, in the middle of the 20th century after World War II, many countries restarted economic development and urban construction. At this time, severe air pollution influenced a number of regions. For instance, London was affected by a critical air pollution event, called the Great Smog of London, in December 1952. During a week, 4000 people had died as a direct result of smog and over 100000 were got ill by the human respiratory tract. Subsequently, from 1978 to now, China has seen a great amount of economic increase, with its gross domestic product (GDP) expanding hundreds time since the reform and opening up. Although China has obtained a huge progress with the globalization, it has resulted in a series of environmental problems at the same time. The aim of the essay is to discover how the globalization affected the environment on air pollution, soil pollution and biological invasion in China. And I intend to analyze the instances of the connection between air
Air pollution by definition, is the presence in or introduction into the air of a substance which has harmful or poisonous effects. Beijing is a major Chinese city that endures air pollution significantly. A study on the global burden of disease found that outdoor air pollution contributed to 1.2 million premature deaths in China each year (Chemical & Engineering News,2017). As China is the world's second largest economy behind the United States, it is most definitely under the influence of globalization. Globalization causes industrialization, a process that will inevitably create pollution.70% of air pollution in China is from the tailpipes of automobiles (Conserve Energy Future, 2017). Thus, the introduction of advanced transportation brought by globalization has adversely affected China's atmosphere.
However, China accounts for 33% of the worlds Greenhouse gas emissions, mainly arising as a result of rapid urbanisation and industrialisation, and the deforestation that occurs in its wake. China is also suffering from desertification, coastal reclamation and severe climate change as are result of their long time blasé attitude towards environmental issues. While the Chinese Government now do acknowledge that environmental oversight has occurred, strict censorship within China deprives outsiders of receiving the full story of the environmental calamity that is occurring within China. Citizens within China are becoming increasingly concerned with governmental policy that regards further unnecessary degradation of the environment. A retired party official revealed that there had been 50,000 environmental protests within China in 2012 alone. China has amended numerous government acts and implemented strict new regulations in an attempt to curb pollution and Greenhouse gas production. However, the problem China faces cannot be swept under the 'bureaucratic rug' so to speak. The problem rests with the lack of an alternative clean energy to the fossil fuels currently used to fuel China's resource hungry industry. China has implemented numerous 'real world' measures to reduce environmental impact. Perhaps the most well known of these projects is 'Green Wall of China', which is a 4,500 km green belt
The globalization of china has detrimental affects on its environment and population. Globalization will eventually kill the earth and its people if it is not brought under control. It will cause global warming to accelerate and many environmental changes.
According to history of China, water consumption, growing population and demand for higher living standards were increasing steadily since the 1950s, when industrial development of the country started. In theory that could lead to new economic era and growth of the country, but in practice that caused one of the most important environmental problems in China. First of all, the pollution of water resources in this country goes deep into history in the 1970s. According to Wang (1989), the situation hasn’t changed for the better and the rate of pollution increased rapidly. Even nowadays the government of China cannot tackle
Environmentalism has been difficult for us to keep control of and the use of the Clean Water Act and Clean Air Act explain how we are supposed to keep our air and water clear for our own use. During the 1970s most of these laws were passed and hopefully during Presidents Trump's campaign will have a better idea of our environment and how we can change America to becoming a better country environmentally. America is one of the countries that need to be changed environmentally for us to have a better living place for us now, instead of for works working in mines and gaining bad lungs from breathing in the wrong type of air. If we change these laws to fit our environment
The major problem concerning China is over population. Due to overpopulation, the demand for energy to light every house and for petrol to fuel every car is becoming too great. With added pressure of providing for the people, more natural
One of China’s best successes has in turn been one of its biggest downfalls. One of the main problems is China’s greatest success which has been its phenomenal economic growth. This is one of the main drivers of the current environmental problems that the country faces. Factories dump pollutants into the air and water. It is difficult to see the Chinese government making the significant sacrifices required to improve their environment if it means slowing down their economic growth.
Unfortunately, the endeavors of the environmentalists did not stop the oppression of pollution, especially in China. More than 70% of China’s water resources
China’s increasingly steady growth has impacted the environment negatively as economic growth is normally at the expense of environmental sustainability. Environmental sustainability is the maintenance of renewable resource, pollution creation and non-renewable resource depletion that contributes to the quality of environment on a long-term basis. The environmental performance index ranked Australia 3rd whereas China is far behind on the list, being ranked 188th out of 195 countries. China being ranked heavily low is due to the massive produce of carbon dioxide emissions and pollution from factories, which eventually reduces the production of inputs into the natural environment, and thus represents waste and inefficiency. China does not have
There are many social problems in our world today, many of which can cause health problems like air pollution in China. China is one of the largest countries in the world with a population of around 1.4 billion people. Air pollution or smog has been a serious issue that China has been trying to control, recently the president of China said that the country plans on leaving behind coal and move towards renewable energy. China plans to stick to its plan from the Paris agreement to focus on cutting C02 emissions and focus on renewable energy and move China away from a polluted planet to the leader in renewable energy.
Since the industrial revolution, many developed and developing countries have begun the process of urbanization to achieve faster development. The transformation from rural to urban brings the human beings convenience and wealth. However, in the past decade, many cities have met not only benefits but also challenges. Environmental problems continue to grow in those high-density areas. To investigate these problems and their influences, two cities, from a developed country and a developing country each, New York City (the U.S.A) and Shanghai (China) are chosen to compare. Both cities are economic centers in their own countries. New York City started its urbanization in the 19th century while Shanghai started in around 1980s. The process NYC has experienced, especially environmental problems, is a good example for Shanghai government to learn from when it continues its urbanization step in the future. Three problems are investigated: air pollution, water quality and soil contamination. These ones are significant in our lives as they can affect our organs and thus influences our health directly.
China has overtaken Germany as the world’s top exporter of goods, which marks another breakthrough in China’s rise to the top and its ever growing economic influence. As China’s export rates rise to the highest in the world, so does its pollution. Judith Shapiro, the director of the Masters in Natural Resources and Sustainable Development for the School of International Service at American University, states that with “20 of the World’s 30 most polluted cities [residing] in China” it is an easy task to see the severity of pollution (Sharpiro). In order to rise to its high economic position China’s government ignores pollution regulations, allowing the release of waste into the air and
China’s 1970 economic reforms boosted the economic output by 11.4% on a yearly basis. The reforms gave authority to the provinces and enabled the market-oriented public enterprises. The economic gains were so great that they accounted for about 33% of the national GDP. Prosperity seemed imminent since the 1970s, but little did the people know that they were on the path that would place them as the world’s most polluted countries and the worlds largest greenhouse gas emitter.
The population on China is constantly increasing and it is increasing quickly. Because of the population increase there are more and more carbon emission, which is causing a lot of pollution in China. “While China’s economic boom has greatly accelerated the devastation of its land and resources, the roots of its environmental problem stretch back centuries” (Albert and Xu, 2016). China’s environment is becoming more and more polluted and it is also causing harm to the plants, animals and ecosystem there. China’s population began booming and has increased by about 10% every year for the last decade (Albert and Xu, 2016). While the population increases so does the industrialization of the country which in turn increases the carbon emissions and pollution. The water is also becoming increasingly