21 May 2007

The Course of China


Since 1949 China’s constant race toward industrialization and modernity have wreaked havoc on the nation’s natural environment. From the ecological disasters caused by Mao’s shortsighted policies and projects to the overwhelming increase in industrial development spurred by Deng Xiaoping’s reforms, China’s natural environment has been under extreme pressure for over half a century. Now, China’s rivers are choked with toxic pollutants from factories and untreated sewage from cities. Lack of clean water has become a real issue for urban and rural citizens alike. The skies over major cities blot out the sun, filled with clouds of toxic smoke from China’s antiquated coal-fired power plants. This poisonous energy industry results in hundreds of thousands of deaths due to respiratory related illnesses annually. Desertification from unsustainable agricultural techniques leads to yearly sandstorms in major cities in the north most notably Beijing. China must feed the world’s largest population on a very small amount of arable land that is shrinking more each year. In addition, soil erosion from deforestation has exacerbated flooding problems along China’s major rivers. As the citizen’s of the PRC continue to raise their standard of living, they consume more and more material goods, leading to increased amounts of solid waste. China’s sanitation and garbage disposal system have yet to catch up with the amount of waste produced, leading to the untreated disposal of waste that cause serious environmental hygiene problems. China is second only to the United States in carbon dioxide emissions, a major greenhouse gas. And if the predicted effects of global warming do occur, China will face an even more challenging environmental crisis.
However, China’s government has not sat idly by to watch the nation’s environmental degradation spiral completely out of control. Begging in the late 1970s China began to take environmental issues seriously, establishing agencies for environmental protection and enacting environmental legislation, such as the trial implementation of the PRC Environmental Protection Law. China has established a vast network of environmental protection agencies at the national, provincial, municipal, and county levels of government. These various levels of bureaucracy has led to a mix of implementation results varying at each locality. A case of environmental and social concern cross-over, China’s one child policy arose out of a need to lessen pressure on China’s natural resources, most notably land for food production. Further, the Chinese people have become more and more aware of environmental problems as these problems have come to increasingly affect their daily lives. Their awareness of environmental concerns can lead to positive change and action towards lessening environmental degradation.

The following video, "China: from Red to Green" gives a brief glimpse into some current environmental issues in China:
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