Bing Air Pollution in Beijing

Trade throughout the world has brought people great things for as long as our history books go back, and the trade routes in China date back to long forgotten old goat trails. Today, our world is becoming more and more connected with internet communications and transportation is now faster thanks to globalization. Globalization is when businesses start operating their markets on an international scale, while also developing international factories. Thanks to these technological advances in globalization, small economies across the world are rapidly becoming connected, where anyone in the world that can make products, can now also easily sell their products on the global market.

These days, even on a much larger scale, whole countries can outsource their factory manufacturing to China, where businesses can manufacture the goods on a larger scale for a lower cost. Unfortunately, along with all these amazing advancements in global economies comes pollution and rapid population growth, which has dire environmental consequences. For instance the air quality in China is alarming, and the wind and waves spread the pollutants and its impact is felt throughout the world. There are a few recent problems and solutions stemming from these issues caused by globalization in China. First, is rising levels of pollution in Chinese large cities. Second, is due to the increase manufacturing, where the rise of population demands more goods and services than they can efficiently accommodate and global population growth is only further compacted the problems.

Third, the population growth in China has created more needs locally and with this population growth comes an ever growing demand for more vehicles; meanwhile global population has also grown and thus the demands for exporting goods has also grown exponentially. Last, are new steps that are being implemented in China to fix the air pollution, with much needed laws and regulations to help limit the environmental damage caused from globalization. To meet the demands of globalization, large factories are operating on huge scales and they consume enormous amounts of electrical power.

Most of their power needs are met with coal burning factories that use inefficient and outdated technology, that are wasteful and produce lots of harmful byproducts; most notably, air pollution. Over the last three decades, China’s economic growth has been the fastest even among the most major nations. Today, one of the most polluted places in China is Beijing because many of these factories are located in China’s largest cities; and Beijing is now a victim of its own pollution because of their surrounding mountains, which ensures the air pollution stays within the city’s region. Likewise, wind can also redistribute the pollution, by carrying the pollutants from industrialized regions into residential areas. Furthermore, the air quality can worsen in these regions during the spring and summer months, when the temperature and humidity levels rise.

Occasionally, the air pollution can result in a thick smog layer that often engulfs the entire city, which has become even more frequent as the air pollution has increased substantially over the years. China is experiencing a major economic growth recently and their Gross Domestic Production has also drastically risen; however, their air pollution regulations have not changed, and this is why China is raking near the bottom of the worldwide environmental sustainability. China’s population growth is also contributing to the air pollution, which has more than doubled in the last century.

While the global population is currently about 7.53 billion people, China’s population is roughly 1.836 billion people, including their capital city Beijing’s, whose population is 21.71 million people alone. This ever increasing pollution is correlated with an increase in wealth, which can be directly linked to a contribution to the air pollution, and that is a result of a surge in motorized vehicles. People in Beijing are now finally able to afford personal vehicles, thanks to the amplified wealth; and sadly today, more than half of the city’s pollution is caused by the emissions from those vehicles, although vehicles are just one of the many contributors to air pollution in China, these vehicles are still a major problem.

Not everything is looking so gloomy though, now that people are realizing that the air pollution threatens to limit the future success and expansion of the city, which also negatively affects the health of its citizens. Many experts including, researchers, engineers, environmentalist and government officials are working hard to find possible solutions that can address these problems; and although the contamination is already extensive, China can still save its environment and create a cleaner atmosphere for future generations, by reforming inadequate regulations and laws, analyzing the sources of pollution, and studying their present consequences.

Globalization has become very helpful for everyone in the world, by enabling everyone the ability to buy and sell goods on the global market. Entire countries can now thrive today thanks to Globalization, by providing them with desperately needed items that are not naturally available in that region. Globalization can also have harsh negative consequences; and it is unfortunate that the one of the major issues with globalization it is that it tends to have the potential to pollute the environment as an outcome, particularly the atmosphere. China is a perfect example of the negative consequences of globalization because of the harmful byproducts of manufacturing and simultaneous over population growth.

There are clearly a number of factors that can be attributed to the widespread air pollution in China, but if the main issues can be minimized, then it can not only have a huge positive effect on globalization in China, but also safeguard the clean air every living creature around the world breathes. Many experts suggest that in order to help repair the environment, China needs to cut back on pollution causing manufacturing and develop new alternative clean sources of power when creating products for the global market and while using transportation; thus, creating a sustainable environment and contributes to positive outcomes throughout the world that is both mutually beneficial for everyone and has a long lasting effect on globalization in China.

References

1. Clark, Kylienne A., et al. Introduction – Choosing & Using Sources: A Guide to Academic Research, The Ohio State University, ohiostate.pressbooks.pub/sciencebites/chapter/causes-and-consequences-of-air-pollution-in-beijing-china.
2. Liu, W., Xu, Z., & Yang, T. (2018, July 12). Health Effects of Air Pollution in China. Retrieved January 15, 2019, from http://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/15/7/1471

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