Pollution In China

The Harm of the Chinese Economy

With the exponential growth of technology in the 20th century, certain economic powers have come into being with the beginning of the mass production era. One of these major powers that came along with this revolution is China, the major producer of all goods found in the United States. However, no major industrial power has taken place without causing major harm to the environment we live in (Kahn, Yardly 2007). While rapidly growing air pollution in China brought on by harmful factory production and out dated fueling methods has created an abundance of health inequalities as well as permanent damage to the surrounding ecosystems, the solution to these issues prove difficult to solve. With a communist styled
The pollution crisis in china has shifted from a local problem, and is starting to have an international impact (Zhang, Mauzerall, Zhu, Liang, Ezzati, Remais 2010 ). The air quality problem in China has created a significant socioeconomic cost, which is associated with the health care and treatment needed from exposure to toxins in the air (4) some major illnesses that are common with industrial air pollution are asthma, bronchitis, lung irritation, pneumonia, the inability to fight lung infections due to a weakened immune system, and pre mature death (3) on from Factories that produce cheap goods for the United States pump an abundance of air toxins into the environment (1). Major environmental issues that might alarm other countries are almost the norm in china. (1). The skies in major cities such as Beijing have become so polluted overtime that the sun is almost invisible to the naked eye (1). While clean air is a major problem, water is also becoming very polluted, which causes large sections of the ocean ecosystem unable to support underwater organisms (1). Considering the fact that we rely on the ocean to filter out carbon dioxide in the air, the fact that it cannot sustain life underwater should be a major red flag. A little less than 500 million people living in china are unable to obtain clean, safe drinking water (1.) The main reason China is so far behind in air quality, relates to their dependence on coal, which emits toxic sulfur dioxide (1). A study conducted 2003 by the Chinese Academy of Environmental planning concluded that around 300,000 Chinese residents die each year as a result from pollutants in the air. Some of the diseases associated with this are heart disease and lung cancer (1). Other unsafe production methods like coal mining are