China's environmental situation and their reaction

 

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<China's environmental situation and their reaction>

 

Nowadays china is suffering severe environmental issues. The three huge issues are severely polluted air and water quality and the problem of climate change. Now let’s take a look these three issues carefully. The first one is air pollution. An air pollutant is a substance in the air that can have adverse effects on humans and the ecosystem. Air pollution risk is a function of the hazard of the pollutant and the exposure to that pollutant. Air pollution exposure can be expressed for an individual, for certain groups (e.g. neighborhoods or children living in a county), or for entire populations. The major pollutant is PM2.5 (particulate matter smaller than 2.5micrometer) and followed by O3 and PM10. Especially after china’s economic boost, pollution is getting more and more serious. Another reason that contributes to china’s air pollution is district heating made by lots of coal. it leads to huge harmful gas to the air. So how to solve china’s energy consumption is the key point that we should take a look continuously.

The second one is about poor water quality. Water pollution is the contamination of water bodies. This form of environmental degradation occurs when pollutants are directly or indirectly discharged into water bodies without adequate treatment to remove harmful compounds. Water pollution affects the entire biosphere – plants and organisms living in these bodies of water. In almost all cases, the effect is damaging not only to individual species and population, but also to the natural biological communities. The specific contaminants leading to pollution in water include a wide spectrum of chemicals, pathogens, and physical changes such as elevated temperature and discoloration. Especially in rural areas, the situation is more serious. Many farmers in china dispose lots of agricultural waste material without dealing with disposal facility and so factory does. It causes severely affect water quality. For example in north east province water pollution would be the most serious issues. Therefore government urgently makes decision to protect river. Lots of expert commonly said that Chinese need to change their consciousness which regards economic boost as a number one aim. And old facility in factory also contributes to this kind of problem.

The last one is about climate change. The global scientific community has made clear that human activity is already changing the world’s climate system. At the same time, economic evidence makes increasingly clear that smart action on climate change now can drive innovation, strengthen economic growth and bring broad benefits.To restore it, it urgently is required enhanced actions with worldwide to tackle the challenge. Here’s some major issues at U.S.-China Joint Announcement on Climate Change In 12 November 2014

The United States of America and the People’s Republic of China have a critical role to play in combating global climate change. The seriousness of the challenge calls upon the two sides to work constructively together for the common good.

To this end, President Barack Obama and President Xi Jinping reaffirmed the importance of strengthening bilateral cooperation on climate change and will work together, and with other countries, to adopt a protocol, another legal instrument or an agreed outcome with legal force under the Convention applicable to all Parties at the United Nations Climate Conference in Paris in 2015.

Today, the Presidents of the United States and China announced their respective post-2020 actions on climate change, recognizing that these actions are part of the longer range effort to transition to low-carbon economies, mindful of the global temperature goal of 2℃.

​             Established the U.S.-China Climate Change Working Group (CCWG), under which they have launched action initiatives on vehicles, smart grids, carbon capture, utilization and storage, energy efficiency, greenhouse gas data management, forests and industrial boilers;

Advancing Major Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage Demonstrations and Launching a Climate-Smart/Low-Carbon Cities Initiative and Promoting Trade in Green Goods:

 

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Now I would like to talk about governmental reaction and thought of mine. The first version of china’s top environment protection bureau was established in 1974 under the state council. After several reorganization, the bureau was upgraded and renamed to Ministry of environmental protection(MEP). MEP is responsible for environmental protection and making ecological policy or program and supervising sub-national bureaus. I strongly believe that there is no way to solve china’s pollution except renewable energy.

 

 As renewable energy becomes increasingly cost-competitive with fossil fuels and energy consumption becomes more efficient, China will become better able to reduce emissions without undermining economic growth. According to a recent study by the Tsinghua/MIT China Energy & Climate Project, a combination of carbon taxes ― especially on coal ― and continued support for renewable power would enable China to reach its carbon-emissions peak in the early to mid-2020s.

 

The government's efforts to promote renewables are driven partly by growing pressure from middle-class Chinese, who are increasingly frustrated with pollution levels. Indeed, the environment is a hot topic in China today, exemplified by the response to the documentary film "Under the Dome," which takes a critical look at air pollution and the role of the country's coal and petrochemical companies. More than 300 million Chinese saw the film after its release, which was timed to coincide with the annual meeting of China's National People's Congress in late February.  The 103-minute production, by the prominent journalist Chai Jing, highlights the health risks posed by the thick smog shrouding China's most productive cities.

 

The public reaction was overwhelming. Its investments have already helped to lower global prices of renewables. Researchers at Harvard University and Tsinghua University say that wind power could, in theory, produce all of China's electricity for the price of coal by 2030.

Still, China should be acting even more aggressively. The authorities should focus not only on producing renewable energy, but also on improving the energy efficiency of existing systems. As it stands, China's economy is about three times as energy-intensive as America's (a country that is not particularly energy-efficient itself.

 

China still has a long way to go. But its recent progress in reducing emissions shows that, with the right combination of government policies, corporate initiatives, and public pressure, even the largest and most polluted countries can clean up their economies and help fight with various environmental problem.