Three Main Catalysts for Climate Change in China

Essay Prompt: What are some of the main catalysts for climate change in your home country?

Climate change has already influenced China in agriculture, industry, ecosystems and many other sectors. For instance, according to an article in People’s Daily Online (2004), 2-to-4 day of spring phenophase has advanced in China since 1980’s. Currently, the impact is becoming more obvious with terrible consequences. According to the Geological Exploration News (2008), the snow disaster that lately happened in south China has already induced a direct economic loss of 111.1 billion yuan by the end of 12 February 2008. These cases are warning us to think about what causes the climate change in China. In my opinion, there are three main catalysts contributing to that.
First is the problem brought by the changing economic system in China. China is at the stage of changing the economic system from a traditional planned economy to a market economy. As a result, all environmental problems are growing more serious than usual because in the system of market economy people pursue to achieve profit margin as high as possible but at the expense of the environment. Some cities would rather tolerate the pollution in air, water, and land produced by some so-called mainstay businesses just for the sake of the high margin in profits they bring. For example, in Jilin province, the chemical engineering is highly developed, so that chemical factories to the local people there are as familiar as Fairprice to the people in Singapore. Not only are the local cities in Jilin province always dusty and shaded by a fog screen, but also the rivers running through the province, such as Songhua River, are badly polluted, which affects the other provinces on the rivers, like Heilongjiang province. Conclusively speaking, the development of economy is at the price of the damaging in environment.
Second is the stress that China is supporting the largest natural population. The more people there are, the more resources are needed. Farmland, freshwater, and mineral resources are all being reduced, which is due to uncontrolled and exorbitant exploration and utilization. In some poor villages in China, farmlands, especially rich farmlands, are in severe shortage. In order to expand their farmland, some farmers ruin the original forests, and sometimes the precious wood is burnt meaninglessly. Thus, damage and waste of forests and pollution in air are induced simultaneously. Similarly, freshwater and mineral resources are also improperly exploited and over used. Hence, the large population has been a main reason of the climate change in China.
Finally, the majority of people in China are not quite aware of the commitment for protecting the environment. It is because those people do not have enough knowledge of the environment, which leads to their awareness of the environmental protection not being clear enough. There are 1.4 billion people in China and nearly 60 percent of the people are low educated farmers and workers. Most of them are illiterate and live a poor life. What they are only concerned about is how to earn a living and how to support their families, and they never think that the environment may have any business with them. The country belongs to everyone living in it. If the awareness of environmental protection cannot be prevalent, the obstacle of solving the environmental problem will not be cleared away.
In conclusion, as stated above, the three main catalysts for climate change in China are economic system changing, large population, and awareness of environmental protection. Only with powerful and effective measures and policies, will the climate be improved. For example, Collier (1997), an environment researcher, mentioned the UK Climate Change Program (CCP) in his book, which was published in January 1994. This program contained a strong emphasis on voluntary measures, includes several plans, such as Energy Saving Trust, for an overall saving of 10 Mt of CO by the year of 2000. If China can carry out some measures and policies, such as CCP, pinpointing the causes of environmental problems, the whole situation of the environment will be improved efficiently.

References

People’s Daily Online. (2004, June 4). Backgrounder: Impact of climate change on China. Retrieved March 11, 2008, from
http://englisg.peopledaily.com.cn/200706/04/eng20070604_380754.html

Geological Exploration News. (2008, February 27). Data related to snow disaster in China in 2008. Retrieved March 11, 2008, from
http://www.cgp.gov.cn/ReadNews.asp?NewsID=14150

Collier, U. (1997). ‘Windfall’ emission reductions in the UK. In Collier, U. ,& Lofstedt, R.E.(Eds), Cases in climate change policy (1st ed.,p.91). London: Earthscan.