China's economic prosperity is a hallmark of our times. In less than a quarter of a century, China has achieved the growth that many nations required more than one hundred years to achieve. A booming industry has allowed many people to have a better quality of life, in comparison to what they had before. In order to achieve such unprecedented growth, China has had to leave many practices near unregulated. The price of this economic prosperity is their environment.
Water, land, and air pollution in China permeates many, if not all, aspects of life. Smog in big cities, like Shanghai, blots out the sun. According to the Council on Foreign Relations, nearly 70 percent of China's water is polluted. Land in China is being swallowed up by desertification (namely grasslands) due to farming practices. It has been reported that this pollution and the damage it has caused cost the Chinese government nearly nine percent of it's GDP. Facing an ever growing population, these persistent problems will decrease the quality of life for Chinese citizens.
Although these problems may seem isolated in China, they serve as a reminder of what can happen when economic prosperity is left unchecked. This is something that could potentially happen in any country if environmental regulations are degraded.
Picture from: http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1870162_1822154,00.html
Information from: http://www.cfr.org/china/chinas-environmental-crisis/p12608
A hard to believe article on how disposable chopsticks destroy nearly 1.5% of China's forests: http://grist.org/news/chinese-forests-now-just-chopstick-factories-in-waiting/
Water, land, and air pollution in China permeates many, if not all, aspects of life. Smog in big cities, like Shanghai, blots out the sun. According to the Council on Foreign Relations, nearly 70 percent of China's water is polluted. Land in China is being swallowed up by desertification (namely grasslands) due to farming practices. It has been reported that this pollution and the damage it has caused cost the Chinese government nearly nine percent of it's GDP. Facing an ever growing population, these persistent problems will decrease the quality of life for Chinese citizens.
Although these problems may seem isolated in China, they serve as a reminder of what can happen when economic prosperity is left unchecked. This is something that could potentially happen in any country if environmental regulations are degraded.
Picture from: http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1870162_1822154,00.html
Information from: http://www.cfr.org/china/chinas-environmental-crisis/p12608
A hard to believe article on how disposable chopsticks destroy nearly 1.5% of China's forests: http://grist.org/news/chinese-forests-now-just-chopstick-factories-in-waiting/
I think this is a really interesting post. This country is seemingly right on the borderline of being developed and developing, which is great for them, but they need to implement some way of reducing greenhouse gases. I watched a video on China in one of my classes and from what I remember they were able to trace ghg's from china all the way to California. One main factor that I'm sure is causing this is China's overuse of coal, in the video I watched I also remember it saying that China had a very high consumption rate of coal.
ReplyDeleteMy boyfriend went to China for two months and just got back. He was living in Beijing for a little while, where the air is so polluted that one day they were told to stay inside. He also couldn't drink the water. No one drinks the water in china, they boil it first.
ReplyDeleteI think possible way to get the Chinese to care about the environment is to get more Americans to change their behavior to be more sustainable and create a movement. It may sound conceited to say, but the youth of China really do look up to Americans. Apparently, the more "American" you act, the more 'cool' you are. I found this to be quite strange, but key in getting China's youth to start caring and change how China deals with the environment in the future.
I keep hearing about how America is asking China to live more sustainable and China is sitting there saying, "But you guys arent doing anything, why should we?". And its true, we need to make a change too. We need to take the first step I feel. Especially considering how the youth view Americans, if we changed American habits and culture in terms of the environment, that will transfer to China and possibly other places.