Assess the view that economic development is not possible without causing environmental degradation – 15 marks.
Overall, I feel that it is mainly large scale economic development projects that are not possible without causing some environmental degradation. Construction is one of the main reasons for this, for any development to take place an area must be used efficiently to maximize space for development. A great example of this is the 3 Gorges Dam in China; this cost over $25 billion to build. Yes, it was financially positive, however a lot of land was taken, which led to huge disruptions in local ecosystems.
Also china has a huge demand for Iron; this is in order to build the buildings and also for the growing demands of the car
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16 of the top 20 air polluted cities are located in China; this is due to rapid development in many what were rural areas of China. A massive 30% of china suffers from acid rain, also because air quality is so poor, 400,000 premature deaths from air polluted causes in 2003. Leaking water pipes contaminated drinking water, which caused illness throughout China; resulting in 70% rivers/lakes are polluted.
As well as environmental concerns, there are also social concerns, such as the rural population are not seeing the positives of the economic boom, which is not fair as they work just as hard. Also it’s the rapid development that is taking their farm land to either convert it to homes for the county’s fast growing population and taking land in place of factories for the also fast growing industries – housing is regularly demolished and in 2007 300,00 people were evicted from their homes; to create space. 20% of the Chinese population live on less than $1 per day, also in China, child labour is not uncommon, and this is in order to keep up with the rapid growth within industries.
On the other hand, there are many other schemes that promote economic development without having negative environmental impacts. However, these tend to be small-scale aid projects as they usually help improve people’s quality of life and standard of living more directly. For example, Practical
Air pollution is basically when has become a problem in China. It has caused problems to ones health. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, such fine particles can cause asthma, bronchitis, and acute and chronic respiratory symptoms such as shortness of breath and painful breathing, and may also lead to premature death. China does not go a day without one dying fro air pollution. Last year 7 million people die annually because of exposure to polluted air (The World health Organization). China's air pollution has triggered ones asthma. It has also cause ones to develop lung cancer, which could be very deadly.
China remains the driver of the iron ore and steel industry. With China recently switching
As once said by the Once-ler, from the tale of The Lorax, “Complain all you want, it’s never, ever, ever, ever gonna stop.” This is a strong message of a children’s book but it can impact how every life spends each day. The growing economy is directly linked to industrialization, which is damaging the Earth more and more each day. Industrialization is the rapidly growing spread of business and industries within a region, and can be shown in practically any country on Earth. There are many environmental issues that industrialization has caused but one in particular is our overuse of scarce resources, therefore, nations have responded to this issue by using renewable resources.
Beijing, the capital of China, since the development of industrialization and economy, the environmental problems emerge gradually. Especially air pollution is becoming a huge problem today. Air pollution is the harmful matters including particulates and biological molecules introduced into Earth’s atmosphere which is harmful to both human health and natural environment. This essay will firstly illustrate the main causes of air pollution in Beijing, including natural causes and man-made causes, and then outline some effects of this problem.
Collier asserts that the poorest states are in need of rapid economic growth which creates tension between poverty reduction and the perversion of nature. This is most evident in China where their desire to grow economically has come at the price of pollution. While China has grown exponentially economically and have reduced poverty, this growth is not sustainable due to their negligence of the environment. The level of pollution in major cities has hurt the Chinese economy because individuals are refusing to do business there due to health concerns. This effects Chinese businesses and their tourism industry. More times than not, states will choose economic growth, however, in the long run this choice will negatively impact their economy.
Our dilemma is that we in the developing economies cannot afford to forego economic growth although the present economic growth causes environment damage. And irreparable environmental losses limit the prospect of future economic growth. What would be the solution to our dilemma? How can we achieve higher economic growth with environmental degradation? The answer to this could be found in the notion of sustainable development that meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of the future generation to meet their own needs. Today the closest we have come to sustainability orthodoxy is the "cradle to cradle" solution pioneered by Michael braungart and William McDonough .According to their philosophy, we have to remaking the ways we make things. So our products need to be made fully recyclable so that, once they are discarded, each part can be turned back into itself again. All based on three simple principles:-waste equals food is a basic concept of organic waste materials becoming food for bugs, insects and other small forms of life who can feed on it, decompose it and return it to the natural environment which we then indirectly use for food ourselves .also we have to
Air pollution by definition, is the presence in or introduction into the air of a substance which has harmful or poisonous effects. Beijing is a major Chinese city that endures air pollution significantly. A study on the global burden of disease found that outdoor air pollution contributed to 1.2 million premature deaths in China each year (Chemical & Engineering News,2017). As China is the world's second largest economy behind the United States, it is most definitely under the influence of globalization. Globalization causes industrialization, a process that will inevitably create pollution.70% of air pollution in China is from the tailpipes of automobiles (Conserve Energy Future, 2017). Thus, the introduction of advanced transportation brought by globalization has adversely affected China's atmosphere.
· Each year, an estimated 178,000 Chinese in major cities suffer premature deaths because of atmospheric pollution in excess of standards. Also, acid rain from high sulfur regions heavily damages the environment each year to crops and forests
All countries want go have growth and often aim to be a Westernized such as the United States or more specifically like New York and London. A city like Beijing is pretty developed and has a “similar” lifestyle as New Yorkers, however there are still significant differences such as the value in taking care of the environment. Pollution has always been a big issue in big cities, but the Western world has noticed that pollution has a bigger impact than just the weather, but it also affects the economy as well. Asian megacities like Beijing have not yet noticed how much of an impact that pollution can cause. The city of Beijing has been haunted by natural hazards such as droughts, floods, and earthquakes (Beckel,
Air pollution now is costing China 3.8% of its GDP while water pollution is costing another 2%. The report estimated this year's combined health and non-health costs of air and water pollution at around US$100 billion. Their air is their leading cause of lung disease and a major indirect cause of work and school absenteeism.
Economic –“an economically sustainable system must be able to produce goods and services on a continuing basis, to maintain manageable levels of government and external debt, and to avoid extreme sectoral imbalances which damage agricultural or industrial production.” (Harris, 2000: 7)
China’s 1970 economic reforms boosted the economic output by 11.4% on a yearly basis. The reforms gave authority to the provinces and enabled the market-oriented public enterprises. The economic gains were so great that they accounted for about 33% of the national GDP. Prosperity seemed imminent since the 1970s, but little did the people know that they were on the path that would place them as the world’s most polluted countries and the worlds largest greenhouse gas emitter.
Oftentimes, human nature dictates us to spur the most from what we have, thus, it is natural for greed and tunnel vision for growth to be in the minds of many businessmen, policymakers, or any citizen in the population. However, in many cases, these men fail to recognise that more than monetary costs, many of human actions entail environmental repercussions.
Economic Development vs. the Environment Summary: Is the economic development of developing countries more important than protecting the environment? Author: The Debatabase Book (United
Presently, changes are being experienced in areas where development projects aimed at improving the economic and social status of a region are being carried. These changes happen to affect the environment within which the projects are being carried and they often call for strategies to be developed by the developing body to make sure that these impacts are reduced significantly (Beer, Au and Hall n.d.). Despite different development projects aiming at bringing about some positive changes in the society or in a given setting, studies show that the same projects may lead to conflicts between the environment and the human activities being carried out in that particular region. Initially, the campaign for economic growth was viewed as the key for increasing the standards of living in a given region but very little attention was given to the social and environmental sensitivity and impacts that accompanied these projects (Chen, Liu and Liaw 2011). As a result, there has been a growing need to reduce the impacts of the projects as well as making sure that the long term benefits of the projects are maximized in leading to sustainability of the projects.