Through past, present, and future, the actions we take can affect us for better or for worse. The interactions that occur between humans and the environment have a significant impact on the earth. Examining the interactions between humans and the environment throughout history can explain how modern environmental issues have come to be. This paper argues that the second industrial revolution in 19th century Europe led to the environmental issues we see in modern China. The second Industrial revolution contributed heavily to Europe’s domination in world politics and in turn, pushed China to work towards its own industrial revolution. Unfortunately, in working towards its own industrial revolution, China had acquired practices and policies that, …show more content…
The driving force behind the second industrial revolution was the desire for technique and efficiency. The second revolution saw the transformation of technology and machinery work over manual industrial laborers. This of course had its pros and cons. While hard labor was not demanded of overworked individuals, the domination of machinery in the workforce produced more pollution. Furthermore, while the First Industrial Revolution saw the growth of industries through coal, iron, and textiles, the Second Industrial Revolution witnessed the expansion of electricity and chemicals. As with the first industrial revolution, industries were still emitting air pollution and using the environment to dispose of non-biodegradable waste, however, the introduction of electricity and chemicals made this behavior much more lethal. Electricity allowed for factories to be run not only during the day, but at night as well. The increase in the amount of time the factories were running meant that more pollution was being produced in a shorter amount of time than before. And, the newfound presence of toxic chemicals with little to no scientific research or legal restrictions behind them meant that toxic substances were being dumped into rivers without heed alongside other non-biodegradable waste. With the issues from the first …show more content…
Its economic rise has come with a deadly cost. China is the world’s largest source of carbon emissions, and the air quality of many of its major cities fails to meet international health standards. Coal is largely to blame for the degradation of chinese air quality, as China is the world’s largest coal producer and accounts for about half of global consumption. There were also a record 17 million new cars on the road in 2014, further contributing to China’s high emissions. In addition to poor air quality, serious water contamination and scarcity have increased land degradation. Industries along China’s rivers have polluted water supplies and lack of proper waste removal has worsened problems. Consequently, overuse and contamination have produced serious water shortages. Water scarcity, pollution, and desertification are reducing China’s ability to sustain its industrial output and produce enough materials to support its large population. China’s current environmental situation is the result of not only policy choices made today but of the policies and practices that have developed over centuries. Today, with a transforming Chinese economy fueled by state-owned enterprises, environmental policies remain difficult to enforce at the local level, where officials often prioritize meeting economic goals over environmental concerns. While the government has
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 Industrial Revolution of the mid-19th century, was the main advocator of new sources of air and water pollution. By Middle 20th century the air and water pollution was being felt by the rest of the world. During The Industrial revolution the factories began to release pollutants into rivers and streams, which caused a major effect on all underwater life. In the 1960s, an environmental protest arose due to all the pollution being felt.
Last year, china had an environmental crisis due to rapid growth of industrialization. This had become a serious threat to China as they had to use roughly 9% of its gross national income. The air
They trudge to work before dawn every day and work until after sundown. On Sundays, they had to work extra to clean the machines. They had to work long hours without even. They had to stand long hours even when they were eating. Third similarities between china’s and British’s industrial revolution was they both had really bad working
The industrial revolution in united kingdom had improved their economy with their discovery of using coal as a fuel in industries. On the other hand, in China reforms and opening up had brought in by Deng XiaoPing that had improved China’s economy and living standards for the citizens. However, both countries’ factories are giving the workers a horrible working condition and even having child labor. Firstly, the similarities of these two countries industries is that the workers in the factories had poor working environment but these factories helped the country’s economy to grow.
I visited China about a year ago, however everything I saw was discussed by Magdoff and Foster in what Every Environmentalist Needs to Know about Capitalism. The intense pollution is enough to make the citizens stay inside for the day, as we here in Colorado might for a snow day. The sights witnessed there is sound evidence that support Magdoff and Fosters argument that capitalism is the primary driving force behind environmental degradation. An explorative journalistic piece by NBC’s 60 minutes Lesley Stahl, revealed that there are currently multi-billion dollar cities being built in China that are completely vacant. China’s massive economic growth can be attributed to policies set forth by the Chinese government some years ago. The Chinese wanted to, ‘catch up with the world, “20 years in a day.” Their ability to actually live up to this goal shows that their government highly values economic growth and will do anything to support it, even at the cost of the environment. This example of the Chinese government is reflective of how most of the world values economic growth, though extreme. Because, no country wants to be in a recession, it is bad for the people causing deep strife in the balance between the environment and economic growth. This paper will utilize the writings of Magdoff and Foster to contend that the way we think about economic growth is harmful to our environment. Additionally this paper will argue that violence is the often necessary for an ideal
Many know that China does not have the most positive background towards climate change, and being one of the world’s largest emitters of greenhouse gases, something has to be done. Furthermore, their initiative to this negative title and better their carbon footprint is questionable. With a substantial population, countless factories, and unfathomable waste disposal, it may be difficult to regulate or attempt to improve their ecological standpoint; however, little efforts have been presented. Recently, China has addressed their impact on climate change and plan to make drastic measures in order to, literally, clean up their act; however, have they dug a hole too deep to get out of?
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.
Though the industrial revolution brought many gifts, it came with grave consequences. The first is that fossil fuels, the primary source of fuel for most machinery, produce large amounts of Co2, which is pumped into the atmosphere. Co2 is harmful both to the human body and the ecosystem; Co2 depletes the ozone layer, which contributes to global/ocean warming and glacial melting. A lot of people do not fully understand the immanent threat this poses to the earth, this is because it is commonly misunderstood or the information is out of date.
Good morning, today I’m presenting to you about the industrial revolution. However, I’m specifically speaking about the industry’s effect on the environment from the years of 1750 to 1901. The question asked was “did the Industrial Revolution make the world a better place?” I’ve researched how the industry in Britain has not been a benefit to the environment. My task is to prove to you that the industrial revolution has not made the world a better place, and in fact, has made it worse off than it initially was.
In this brief paper, we have discussed two elements of industrialization that positively affected American lives and two elements of industrialization that negatively affected American lives. One of these negative elements was the employment of children in the industrial arena. The second negative aspect was that the roots of our environmentally challenged society stemmed from the Industrial Revolution.
This article describes the threat coal burning possesses towards China by vastly increasing air pollution, leading to many deaths. Furthermore, the article details both how effective the Chinese government’s response has been towards the increasing dangers of air pollution and the effect of heavy air pollution. The author, Edward Wong, a former TIME news foreign correspondent, has written many unbiased articles related to global crises for NY Times and TIMES News. Published by the somewhat reliable news source New York Times, the credibility of the author compensates for any issues. Covering many important issues around the world such as the Iraq war, the author’s credibility is vastly justified. This article provides detail into the damage
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
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
All Industrial Revolutions took place around 200 years ago but having vast and complicated effects now. They dramatically improved our lifestyle at the same time diminishing our value and morals and completely changing peoples' attitude toward nature. They were focused on economic growth which led to environmental destruction. I argue that one of the most important priorities of the Fourth Industrial Revolution ought to be strict environmental standards. A lot