Is the lifestyle of people in Europe and the USA a major cause of China’s environmental problems?
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.
In order to understand why China is in such environmental difficulties we need to understand why the lifestyles of people in Europe and the US could be to blame. The first area to consider is the environmental issues that China is currently suffering with. Once this is established I can assert what impact the US and Europe has in relation to these issues and what actually causes them. In linking the events it will be easier to see the chain of events. To do this I am going to work backwards and understand the issues that exist within China and then secondly what they are a result of. This will give me the background of why China’s environmental issues have become so dire.
According to the Worldwatch Institute the rapid industrialization has polluted many lakes and streams resulting in chemical pollution and increased algae blooms leaving the water undrinkable. These combined issues are then causing knock on effects to the aquatic life by staving them of oxygen. Many areas are also suffering with an increase in dust storms; these have been a cause of over agricultural use. These increased storms would not cause many problems but now they can ...
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It is difficult for humans to give up profits and sacrifice themselves to guard nature world. Although the world notice that using excessive resources the earth provide can lead to devastating result. Concerning the progress of urbanization and industrialization, China does not have too much policy to protecting the nature because it is trade off between economic and environment. The Chinese government chooses to grow China’s economic in order to decrease poverty regardless the population they would create. People’s unlimited want disrupt people put full effort in protecting the nature world. Because of human’s unlimited wants, humans take more and more from the environment in order to improve living standards. Nonetheless, the sacred resources that provided by earth are not enough for people.
During the 1600s, the Dutch were the only ones trading with Japan. Not only did they trade goods, but they also spread ideas, including machines that would allow an industrial revolution to occur. While Britain and Japan were major contributors, the biggest contributor, and still today, is China. China’s industrial revolution didn’t occur till much later, starting in the 1960s. Before this, they had very steady production of goods and a fair amount of innovations. Many of their inventions mirrored European technology, such as the water wheel. People didn’t realize how big of an issue this was at the time. Big manufacturers only cared about making money. To them, the pollution was only a minor inconvenience. Only when it would become a big problem is when they started to care. And the signs that it was becoming a big problem were very apparent. Dumping of waste into rivers cause constant outbreaks of cholera and typhoid. These disease weren;t only caused by water but also by the air. All of the smog got into people’s lung, giving way to lung cancer. The smog also created acid rain, which is a very dangerous precipitation that can cause buildings to
Hildebrant, Timothy . "Environmentalists cry 'fore!' in China." csmonitor.com. 16 Jul 2003. the Christian Science Monitor. 12 Apr. 2005 .
Desertification has consistently haunted Chinese climatic history. However, recent evidence suggests that the Chinese might have a little more on their hands than the global climate change experienced by generations before them. While global warming and climate change are a world concern, the Chinese have an invested interest in combating the desert destruction of their capital city. If these methods prove futile and anthropogenic forces accelerate desertification, then Beijing could be the first victim in the battle against global warming.
America’s demand for cheap clothes and China’s demand for cheap cotton are a match made in heaven. After China reopened its doors to the world after the transition to Communism, factories were state-owned. The Chinese state exploits the powerless, through the hukou system. Each citizen is registered to specify where they live, and what jobs they have. People with a rural hukou are ‘second-class’, and often migrate to the city to try and work in factories (Rivoli 106-107). Workers in the he yarn and fabric factories work long hours doing dull, repetitive jobs in dangerous conditions. The crushing central planning and human labor left no room for innovation, so the private sector, where innovation is valued, has nearly quadrupled in size (Rivoli 85). Widespread cheating and deception, are becoming common in order to keep costs low, creating a ‘race to the bottom.’ While trying to get on top, factories have destroyed many basic human rights, as well as the environment. It has become commonplace to read news articles about dumping waste into rivers, clear-cutting forests for industrial sites, and heavily polluted air. The humans have hurt the environment, and it may seem as though Mother Nature is trying to bite back. Respiratory diseases from smog and toxic chemicals contaminating drinking water are examples of the environment affecting
Just like Klein states, “Protecting and valuing the earth’s ingenious systems of reproducing life and the fertility of all of its inhabitants, may lie at the center of the shift in worldview that must take place if we are to move beyond extractivism” (424). Indeed to build a better world, we must go beyond the capitalism, however, unlike the divestment movement around other countries, it is challenging for people in China to take action to against the air pollution due to the fact that those heavy industries and businesses have Chinese government in their back to support
Having been environment caring since a young age, I have always had a large appreciation for the world resources that are essential for living. I always follow my dad and uncle conducting research about the environment since they are both faculties in the field of environment science, read articles about controversies and I am fascinated with the problem that affects everyone in the world. I have always considered it the far and wide most important resource in the world, and I feel as though China has a pretty lacking appreciation for it, whereas many other countries, as a whole, are constantly trying to come up with new solutions to solve the problem.
China’s economy is one very large indicator of its role in globalization. “In 2010 China became the world’s largest exporter” (CIA World Factbook). Without China many places such as the United States of America would be without billions of goods imported from China annually. An influx of companies moving their manufacturing to China has allowed people to flock to cities and find jobs. China’s economy has grown exponentially over the last few decades. In the last three years China’s economy has grown by nearly ten percent every year. Despite this influx of money to China it has also resulted in many drawbacks. For example, China’s environment has been obliterated. China burns more coal than every country in the world combined. Beijing has been so badly polluted that there are actually companies that sell cans of fresh air to people, and gas masks are a common sight. On January 12th 2013 Beijing’s air pollution reached a record setting 775 PPM. To put that into perspective, the scale for measuring pollution is 0-500 PPM. This set an all-time recorded high. In Los Angeles a high ...
Beijing and China are obviously in a different climatic region as compared to the majority of the United States. Fortunately for the Chinese, technology and advancements have been developed to help limit the effects of the climate on society; irrigation to deal with droughts, dams and dykes to aid in flood diversion and control, and proper medicine to eradicate epidemics and combat other flood-related health tribulations. Between the monsoons, flooding, droughts and famines, Beijing and China seem to have been a formidable place to live, especially in the past with all the challenges involved in Asia ’s unforgiving climate.
The best way is thus to find a balance between common responsibilities and individual rights for sustainable development to be achieved. It is, therefore, important for China to relook at the Earth Charter to overcome extreme individualism and the short-term thinking that characterizes many governments. However, Confucianism raises controversy when it advocates for the needs of the living at the expense of the un-born, which raises conflict on whether to engage in business activities that even though profitable to man are detrimental to the sustainability of the environment, which will ultimately affect the future
In traditional opinions, environmental protection and economic growth are mutually contradictory. Economic growth is a high environmental cost, and protecting the environment will limit the economic growth. The reason of contradiction stems from the inappropriate understandings among development, economic growth and environmental protection. In fact, economic growth could have a harmonious relationship with environmental protection.
The global climate is a major concern for all developing countries that are in the process of rapid industrialization, economic growth and massive consumption of resources. China is vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change , which resulted in serious threats to natural ecosystems, as well as economic and social development (2008, policies and actions on climate change in China) . China combines the treatment of climate change with the implementation of its sustainable development strategy , accelerating the construction of a new source conservation and society and building a country of innovation friendly environment .
The environment is far from protected in countries like India and China. Pollution which is a commonly large factor in both the countries is present in every aspect of nature and the main concern being the change in mentality about urbanisation and industrialisation in people’s minds. To add to the pollution issue both these countries deal with several environmental problems which caused pollution problem in their regions. The three main problems faced by India and China are Deforestation, Industrial Air Pollution and Industrial Water Pollution. The common factor causing these problems are industries in their respective country. Both countries produce goods on a large scale which determine and explain the pollution problem.
Countries such as China and Japan need to enforce more powerful regulations on the amount of carbon emissions that they produce. China put in regulations just this last year and Japan postponed plans for a national regulations on carbon emissions, bowing to powerful business groups that warned of job losses as they compete against overseas rivals facing fewer emissions regulations. It’s not a good sign that large corporations can control how a nation regulates its environmental safety laws. China is finally planning to regulate their carbon emissions. This is long over due concerting that China ranks as the world’s number one carbon dioxide emitter, thanks in part to the massive amounts of coal the country burns. China currently builds a new coal-fired power plant at a rate of about one every week to ten days. The country’s coal burning levels are nearly on par with the rest of the world combined.
Throughout history water sources were a fixture of a civilization, but pollute that source and you risk the health of everyone. When discussing the impacts of industrialization on the environment, China is a perfect example. China is at a point where they have just started industrialization and have a lack of regulation just as the U.S. and Great Britain were in the rise of industrialization. China has long been criticized for its appalling air quality, but that pales in comparison to the s...