Human Caused Environmental Impacts On Beijing

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.

According to the EPA pollution recommendations, when a city reaches an air quality index (AQI) of over 400, all people should avoid going outdoors. Beijing’s highest AQI is 895. This impacts the daily lives of Beijing citizens immensely. Air pollution has been related to increased cases of cancer, heart disease, stroke and other respiratory illnesses. It is also associated with asthma in children.

In the past decade, the severe air pollution problem in fast developing countries, particularly in China, has caused highly social and scientific attention. In 2014, 92 % of the world population are exposed over to the WHO Air Quality Guidelines (AQG) PM2.5 concentration level of 10 μg/m3 (World Health Organization, 2016). Ambient particulate matter (PM) pollution ranked as the third leading risk factor in India and Nepal, and ranked as the fifth in China (GBD 2015 Risk Factors Collaborators, 2016). In 2012, about 3 million deaths globally were attributed solely to ambient air pollution, and around 87% of it occurred in low- and middle-income countries (World Health Organization, 2016).

As mentioned in Diamond’s book, Collapse, China has been facing and is still facing air pollution and environmental damages. The air pollution crisis in China is caused mainly by their large economic boom causing more factories, vehicles, and overpopulation (Clark, et al.). “Pollutants such as nitrogen oxides and carbon dioxide are rising due to the increasing numbers of motor vehicles and the coal- dominated energy generation” (Diamond 363). Because of the immediate effects of air pollution such as the smog that is visible to citizens in China, many citizens wear face masks every day to protect themselves and their health. Diamond also mentions the fact that because China has the worst environmental damages such as air pollution, this might affect the rest of the world.

The consequences of air pollution have been detrimental for the economy, and the continued degradation of air quality will further increase the negative impact of health. In today’s society, no one is aware of the cost of air pollution, however expert’s analysis concluded that the cost for air pollution may be far worse than previously estimated. “Since the early 2000s, emissions from sources

Beijing, China has a coal mining history of nearly 800 and some odd years. This has been a major air pollutant and the main reason for it is because its economy has grown substantially in the last 30 years. Worldwide, there are twenty cities with the highest, worst air pollution, sixteen of those cities are within China alone. The main causes of Beijing’s air pollution can be pointed to several factors. Large economical growth, an increase in vehicles on the roads, growth in population, and manufacturing. China has also experienced major economic growth with a large rise in Gross Domestic Product. This increase can be connected with pollution. Vehicles are just one contributor to pollution which we will discuss later in this paper.

“Air Quality Guarantee Plan for the 29th Olympic Games in Beijing”. In this plan, similar control measures were extended to surrounding areas, including Tianjin, Hebei, Shanxi, Inner Mongolia, and Shandong. In Tianjin and Hebei, this policy was compulsorily and strictly implemented. However, for Shanxi, Inner Mongolia, and Shandong, the plan was only implemented if air conditions became extremely serious. Wang et al. (2010b) found that in June 2008, the daily emissions of sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen dioxide (NOx), and particulate matter (PM10) in Beijing totaled 103.9, 428.5, and 362.7 tons, respectively. During the Olympic Games, the daily emissions of SO2, NOx, and PM10 in Beijing were reduced to 61.6, 229.1, and 164.3 tons, which were 41, 47, and 55% lower than the respective June 2008 emission levels.”

Beijing, the capital of China, since the development of industrialization and economy, the environmental problems emerge gradually. Especially air pollution is becoming a huge problem today. Air pollution is the harmful matters including particulates and biological molecules introduced into Earth’s atmosphere which is harmful to both human health and natural environment. This essay will firstly illustrate the main causes of air pollution in Beijing, including natural causes and man-made causes, and then outline some effects of this problem.

The Economic boom from factories connection to air pollution is unconventional. The reason factories stay open is only for the monopoly it has over monetary distress. The economical perspective affects the health concerns beyond a doubt. Nearly 5-6 million people die every year due to an illness related to air pollution. The pollution is tremendously bad in China, which the people of China have to stay inside their homes with the windows shut at all times. China has faced their first “red alert” which has put a halt to usage of motor vehicles, and factories stopped operation. People all over the world are suffering from air pollution, some cases worse than others. Urbanization constantly grows each year which contributes to air pollution which has an immense impact on the

16 of the top 20 air polluted cities are located in China; this is due to rapid development in many what were rural areas of China. A massive 30% of china suffers from acid rain, also because air quality is so poor, 400,000 premature deaths from air polluted causes in 2003. Leaking water pipes contaminated drinking water, which caused illness throughout China; resulting in 70% rivers/lakes are polluted.

We see that China has polluted more than 10 times the amount of pollution in the U.S. The population of the cities are relatively the same; This data was published in January of 2015. By looking at this chart, we understand that pollution is evident and that we need to do

China, home to more than 1.35 billion inhabitants, is the most populated country and largest developing nation in the world. China’s economy is thriving and continues to grow at a rapid pace, but that economic development comes with high costs as China is now biggest polluter in the entire world (“China Biodiversity Threat”). Additionally, China’s rapid industrial growth has increased greenhouse emissions, increased the need of foreign resources and produced environmental destruction. China has doubled the amount of coal-fired power stations being built from one a week to

Through urbanization, the most common view is the establishment of factories. Most of these factories are located in heavy industrial areas of the cities. It is easy to hypotheses that air quality has become worse in Shanghai since it started urbanization in the 1980s. However, there is not a proportional

Air pollution is one of the biggest causes of environmental impact in any region. Therefore, air quality needs to be evaluated and maintained for avoiding health hazards. According to WHO, air pollution claims more than 2.4 million lives each year (WHO, 2002). Cities have to face more air pollution problems as compared to

Science is developing everyday. There are numerous amounts of products coming out from the companies and being wasted everyday. Interesting fact is even though people are brilliant at making new products, but they do not have solution how they are going to do with the waste after being used. Most of the wastes are ship to developing countries in Asia. The major country would be China. Since China has 3rd largest land scale in whole world there are numerous amount of trash to be buried or burn. Also, there are a lot of companies around the world have factories in China, because they have cheap labor and huge land. Major company would be Apple, Omega watch, and other huge companies we know. Since china takes numerous amount of percentage of human population around the world there are food problems in China, which affects the sustainability in environment.