Urbanization and Party Survival in China by unknow

Author:unknow
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Lexington Books/Fortress Academic

Coal burning

22.4%

Industrial plants

18.1%

Suspended dust

14.3%

Other

14.1%*

*“Major pollution from automobile in Beijing” People’s Daily Overseas Edition, April 26, 2014

Air pollution containing heat-trapping greenhouse gases, heavy carbon dioxide, and dense PM 2.5 has affected peoples’ lives and health. It causes respiratory ailments including asthma, lung diseases, and cancers. It also causes birth defect and premature deaths. PM 2.5 has the ability to penetrate deep into the lungs and bloodstream unfiltered, causing permanent DNA mutations and heart attacks.

PM 2.5 as pollution can reach a large surface area carrying a variety of toxic heavy metals, acid oxides, organic pollutants, and other chemicals, as well as microorganisms such as bacteria and viruses in the air. The World Health Organization estimated that 470,000 Chinese died prematurely in 2008 due to air pollution.45 Premature deaths are deaths that occur before a person reaches an expected age, for instance, age 75. According to a joint study by Greenpeace East Asia and Beijing University’s School of Public Health, an estimated 8,572 premature deaths occurred in four major Chinese cities in 2012, due to high levels of PM 2.5 pollution.46 PM 2.5 has been a major cause for the visibility problem in big cities, especially Beijing. The components of chemicals and primary pollutants of sulfur dioxide, total suspended particulates (TSP), nitrogen oxides (NOx), volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and other pollutants from factory and vehicles’ emissions can also generate secondary pollutants through photochemical reactions. The reactions between pollutants and chemical components can be transformed into PM2.5. The concentration of fine particles affects visibility.47

The Chinese government has been aware of the seriousness of air pollution. It has taken into consideration the anxiety and discontent among ordinary Chinese for the environmental degradation across the country. The establishment of the Ministry of Environmental Protection in 2008 demonstrates the government’s concern about this matter. The Ministry has been authorized to address the task of protecting China’s air, water, and land from pollution and contamination. Directly under the State Council, it is empowered and required by law to implement environmental policies and enforce environmental laws and regulations. More than 1,830,000 law enforcement personnel were hired just in 2014.48 It also funds scientific research to seek better solutions to pollution. The Ministry of Finance has been working on legislation on carbon taxation in an effort to reduce the usage of coal and to eliminate carbon emissions.

The government has begun seeking alternative energy resources and encouraged households to utilize solar panels, providing them with energy subsidies. Moreover, the Chinese government has also decided to pursue broader environmental protection programs. The Ministry of Finance supported the clean air effort particularly in the northern cities of Beijing, Tianjin, and the provinces of Hebei, Shandong and Inner Mongolia with RMB 5 billion in 2013.49 Recently, the National Development and Reform Commission and the National Energy Administration made an announcement to halt the construction or completion of about 200 planned coal-fired power generators across the country to slow down the rise of the greenhouse gases.50

Government leaders are making blueprints for future environmental protection too.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.