Environmental Problems In China Essay

China has been the most populated country in the world for centuries, but ever since their unprecedented economic boom it has become the largest energy consumer and producer in the world. This is having a colossal effect on the environment, it’s even noticeable in the most remote areas of China. Although China suffers from many issues, its environmental problems are causing a far greater negative effect on the globe. Even though the Chinese individual use of resources are low, the impact on resources of the Chinese as a collective are mammoth. China’s environmental problem is so hard to fix because China is still prioritising their countries economic growth and prosperity which requires a lot of production and consumption; thus producing a

75% of China’s water is polluted and 28% of its water is even unsuitable for agricultural use . A lot of this pollution is being caused by the use of raw materials for energy. China relies heavily on coal consumption for its energy with it accounting for 69% of china’s energy consumption . It is the world’s largest consumer, producer and importer of coal and it accounts for around half of the world’s coal usage3. All of this coal consumption causes sulphur dioxide and soot to be polluted which causes the formation of acid rain which has harmed 35% of China’s total area¬¬¬ , this then poisons their water provisions and damages trees which threatens much of china’s wildlife. The use of Coal also causes mercury to be released into the atmosphere which gets transferred into the soil and water by rain. This has caused more than 10% of china’s arable land to be contaminated by mercury as well as other harmful metals like cadmium and arsenic , anything which is then grown in this contaminated soil effects the health and safety of the people. This could soon effect China’s food security. China’s air and water pollution are causing them huge problems, the World Bank and ministry of environmental protection of China calculate that annually as many as 750,000 die prematurely from

Any potential solutions China has will need to be done on such a colossal scale in order to be effective, this makes it more difficult to implement a solution. One of China’s best-known environmentalists, Ma Jun, says that the main obstacle in the way of environmental protection is the “lack of motivation.” The public need to come together in order to give motivation, but they must be educated on the issue in order to help in any significant way. However, it will be hard for the public to come together because a lot of consumers prioritise on working to achieve what they want in life such as a house, car and family. Most of the consumers that are fighting for the environment are those who have already achieved what they want and are successful. In recent years the public are becoming a lot more vocal about the environmental problems through social media and the increasing number of protests on the streets and this puts pressure on the policy makers. It is hard for China’s government to find an equilibrium where the people’s environmental awareness is growing and where there is massive pressure for an improved quality of life and urbanisation. And we can see that the government are trying to find this balance as they changed their environmental