Friday, November 01, 2013
Blog 8-China's anti pollution drive risks running out of gas
China has been using fossil fuel power to generate their heat for centuries. They have a great reliance on the material, but it is detrimental to the health of the people and is also becoming more scarce as the years go by. China's pollution level is so high that the World Health Organization's (WHO) safe level of particulate matter in the air has increased by 45 times.
Not only is China facing health concerns with regards to air pollution, but an economic one as well. Because there is only a limited amount of fossil fuels, so the Chinese are turning towards natural gas. This would solve both the heating in the winter problem and it would also be better for the environment. The shortage of the natural gas, however forces the government to ration gas supplies, even to the extent of banning new construction. This would in turn, take a heavy toll on the economy.
They are in need of natural gas, because if they do not, the people will just go back to using coal powered power, thus creating a downward spiral in the pollution realm. They have to find an alternative method of power because, they are being scrutinized by not only the citizens of the country but also the world.
Gas would be a big help for China's air pollution problem, but they have only numbered amounts, thus having to ration it. They will probably have to rely on foreign imports to sustain their growing population and demand.
Socially, China is in a predicament. Their citizens and the world are shoving clean air down their throats.
The government is under vast amounts of pressure and are claiming to be doing their best, although they claim that the implementation will take a decade or so.
An opinion on this article read, "Amazing how wimpy Chinese are getting. They survived for centuries with the same hostile cold environment, but now that they are starting to live like the USA, it seems they can not pollute enough to stay warm. Funny, I almost thought for sure that there would be some comment about global warming or climate change here, maybe they will re-edit the script to make it sound more "cool."" -BasicKnowledge
This is an example of how the world might view the rapid modernization of China. Some feel that they do not or should not live like the western world and that they need to stay in their place. It really is a sticky situation because the modern world is moving so quickly, it is difficult for deep rooted ancient civilizations to adjust at the speed that newer societies do.
Reuters
Lillian Brown
3:00 pm Nov 1
Labels:
Blog #8,
Ecology/ Environment,
Lillian D. Brown
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