Effects of Pollution in China Essays

Effects of Pollution in China Essays Effects of Pollution in China Paper Effects of Pollution in China Paper Europe and Japan combined. Air pollution and acid rain, which comes from the coal residue evaporating in the form of smoke into the atmosphere, is killing people. In addition to chemical and industrial factories producing all this dirtiness into the air, vehicles of transportation also add to this pollution epidemic. In the 1 sass, the number of vehicles on roads increased very vapidly, especially in medium-sized and large cities. In Beijing, the number of vehicles increased by a factor of 4, from 0. 5 million in 1990 to 2 million in 2002. In addition, the emission factor, the amount of pollution emitted by one car, in China is much higher than in developed countries because China has much lower emissions standards for automobiles (The Chinese Academy). Thus, the drastic rise in the number of vehicles and rapid development of industries in cities has led to worsening air quality, particularly higher concentrations of nitrogen oxides. The burning of poor quality fuel only adds o urban air pollution. Considering the amounts of traffic that the more urban, centralized cities deal with on a constant basis, the amount of fuel being burned into the atmosphere is reaching tremendous heights. Over the years, the government had implemented their own ways of dealing with the pollution problem as well as progressing social development. Embarrassed by the repercussions of industrialization and arbitration, Chinas environmental agency insisted that the health statistics be removed from the published version of media reports because the government did not wish to cause social instability. According to Spiegel Online International, in 2007 the Chinese government put pressure On the World Bank to take potentially damaging statistics out of a report on pollution in China (Spiegel Online International). Reportedly, the World Bank reluctantly agreed to the demand of the Chinese government and this report about pollution was never published. Many people did not believe the Chinese government undergone such secretive endeavors to protect them but rather it was just the Communists instinctive response to every case of bad news to cover it as much as possible. The Chinese government often has had a hard time irritating pressing issues at hand and, therefore, chooses to suppress it until the issue starts developing more and then reaches the attention of foreign countries. This kind of pattern has affected the Chinese government for many years now because of its lack of aggression towards personal, current issues. In terms of the environmental issues, Chinas model of pollution compared to that of the United States and Europe is worse because the density of its population is greater and people do not know how to protect themselves properly from the essential tools of life, water and air. Because of Chinas reputation as being one of the leading nations in fast economic growth, the government places economic growth before any other problem the nation might have. Some may say, the country is addicted to fast growth and instances of progression. Having a strong, solid economy would place China on the map as a great superpower and can very well earn them the respect and recognition from every other nation. If China starts to slow down their industrial development and economic growth at all, the effects would be social instability, the potential to lose foreign business and trading ratters, and takes away Chinas hard-earned reputation. Slowing down production to solve such insignificant problems may be a stretch for the Chinese government; however, the threat of pollution is very much real and staggering which in the long run, would affect the economy in a negative way. With the amount of health-related issues due to the environment, health care costs have climbed sharply. The lack of clean water has affected the farming and crop industry tremendously. The amounts of high energy- dependent industries create greater need for imported coal and fuel; therefore, the environmental problems gradually get harder and more expensive to address the longer they remain unresolved. According to National Geographic, the rate in which this pollution is harming women and children would have a great effect on the next generation of Chinas leaders, especially with the many recorded incidents of birth defects and brain damage that pregnant women are inhaling everyday of their lives. The pollution in China is not just a current problem but an issue that can surely affect the future of China extensively. In recent years, the Chinese government have been striving to address these environmental issues and making reforms to reverse Some of the effects. The government has set goals in order to reduce the emission of fuel and to conserve energy by reducing the level of energy that industries use as well as slowing down the demand for coals. Taking ideas from the United States, China has set to develop alternative methods of energy such as solar power. Yet most of the governments targets for energy efficiency, as well as improving air and water quality, have not been reached. Although there are many targets and goals set forth by the government to fix this pollution problem, no real concrete actions has taken effect. Chinas lack of monumental changes towards conservation and energy-efficient ways has resulted in no real progression. China refused to invest a lot of money and tax reforms to reach their supposed targeted goals. Even many bureaucratic leaders and city officials often do not invest their money and efforts into closing down factories and industries because that would hurt their local economies. In a way, the government reflects a dog-eat-dog world where everyone chooses to look out for themselves in order to prosper the most. In attempts to stick to their original goals, China began to explore the idea of the Green G. D. P in the mid sasss. The Green G. D. P was an effort to create an environmental yardstick for evaluating the performance of every official in China It recalculated gross domestic product, or G. D. P. , to reflect the cost of pollution (BBC News). In other words, this was a way to calculate the financial loss that pollution has had on the economy and for the government to adjust their expenditures in such a way to reflect a better G. D. P. However, the calculations for some provinces in China reach staggering amounts that was unrealistic for the Chinese government to adjust because if they did, their Roth rate for certain areas would be zero which means the overall economy would decline. Because of the failing numbers of the Green G. D. P for Chinas economy, the government pulled out of the project in 2007. The failed success of Green GAP for the Chinese government pushed the progression of environmental friendliness preservation back because of the financial and economic issues that arose from partaking in the Green G. D. P (New York Times). One such issue that China struggles with is realizing that any attempt or unrealistic goal set forth to fix the environment problem will always be met with many obstacles and resistance. Such unfortunate issues are part of the reason why China is reluctant in fixing their environmental problems and plays a role in the still on-going pollution issue today. In 201 1 , Toyota Motor announced that they will be making low-emission cars in China. Because China has the biggest market for cars, Toyota Motor wanted to get into that market in an environmentally friendly way. Along with having the biggest market for cars, China also has the biggest market for pollution. China was keen on welcoming the foreign aid of car expenditures to their market because Of its emphasis on producing low-emission Cars in the entry. As China attempts to work towards its pollution problems after many failed efforts, the people foresee this as a positive business venture on both the Japanese and Chinese because it benefits both sides. Japan would create a bigger market for themselves in East Asia and China will be on the road of becoming more green and energy-efficient, a problem that they have been facing for decades. All and all, it is safe to say that China as well as every other country around the world recognizes that the amount of pollution has increased tremendously. China has played a huge part in the matter because of its sieve industrialization and arbitration that attributes to their fast economic growth. Although there are many Chinese officials and leaders out there who fail to see the correlation between air pollution and long-term health and social effects, the growth of air pollution is not going away. Although there are very few studies attributing the socio-economic class, population size, and demographics to the growth of air pollution, the presence of air pollution affects everybody. There is, indeed, a major correlation between air pollution and increased mortality; therefore, China trivet to undergo many environmental-friendly programs. In short, there is sufficient evidence that exposure to outdoor air pollution is a health hazard in China. The importance oftenest increased health risks is greater than in developed countries because air pollution in China is at much higher levels and because the Chinese population accounts for more than one-fourth of the worlds total population. Future research will need to clarify the lifetime course of air pollution effects, examine the relevance of long-term exposures, understand alternative methods, and finding correlations between air elution and health hazards for the Chinese population.