The Effects of Industrialization in Environment and Economy Relevant to Employment in China - Literature review Example

Industrial Pollution in China The issue of environmental pollution is one of the problems that affect the whole world today. Environmental pollution may emanate from various sources and have various effects on the surrounding. It is therefore important to understand the real meaning of environmental pollution or pollution in general. Pollution refers to the introduction of harmful contaminants in to the environment (Tilt, 31). The environment here may refer to the atmosphere, soil or water bodies. It is the introduction of such contaminants into the surrounding entities like soil, water as well as atmosphere. These contaminants may have very adverse effects on the physical as well as the chemical conditions of such environments. They may lead to alteration of such environments in very different perspectives. It is of crucial significance to note that environmental pollution may take several forms. These may include the forms of physical substance like the solid wastes. In addition, environmental pollution may take the form of chemical substances. Such chemical substances always contribute significantly towards modifying the chemical compositions of the environment towards adverse states. In many cases, chemical contaminants always lead to increased cases of deaths of organisms as well as other vegetations surrounding such places experiencing such forms of pollution (Managi and Shinji, 73). It is significant to note that environmental pollution may also take the form of energy. This may include such forms of pollution as noise, heat as well as light. These sources of environmental pollution always leads to distraction of peace and attention, health risks including deafening, increased temperatures thereby making the environment unsuitable for habitation (Lu, 67). It is of crucial significance to note that environmental pollution may emanate from various sources. In this regard, there are two main categories of environmental pollution. These include the point sources as well as non-point sources. Non point sources of environmental pollution are sometimes referred to as the diffuse causes of environmental pollution. Non-point causes of pollution refer to pollution that emanates from sources that are indefinite. Such sources of pollution are very difficult to control or deal with. Most of such causes of pollution are always associated with natural events (Zheng and Yushuo, 48). However, the point sources of pollution are those forms of pollution that emanate from definite sources. These sources of environmental pollution are very easy to prevent, control as well as manage. This is because they come from sources that are well known and are traceable. It is prudent to highlight that the point sources of pollution are mostly associated with the influence of human beings on the surrounding. They are mostly anthropogenic causes of pollution. There are several forms of anthropogenic causes of environmental pollution. These may include deforestation, urbanization, mining, infrastructure development, agriculture as well as industrialization. These contribute towards affecting several sectors of development in all the nations globally. The Sources of Industrial Pollution in China One of the nations worst hit by the issue of industrial pollution is China. China is one of the largest nations in the global perspective. China has been experiencing the issue of environmental pollution for several decades. The environmental pollution in China has taken greater tolls in affecting the lives of the residents, the vegetation as well as threatening the progress of several sectors in the country. These include negative impacts experienced in the sector of education, health as well as development in the entire nation. China is one of the industrialized nations in the world. However, with industrialization, there come several challenges that are associated with the process. This has been widely experienced in the entire region of China, with the tripling effects of such pollution felt in several sectors involving agriculture, industries as well as tourism (Managi and Shinji, 85). It is of crucial significance to highlight that one of the causes of environmental pollution that is highly experienced in China is the issue of industrialization. The industrial pollution in China has been responsible for massive air pollution in the region that has severely affected the country’s economy, health of the citizens as well as the growth in development in various perspectives. It is of crucial significance to note that the growth of industries contribute to the issue of environmental pollution in several various ways. It is prudent to note that the issue of industrialization may be viewed in several perspectives. These may include the growth of the industries, the industrial processes, the types of various industries as well as other sectors directly associated with such industries. The Sources and Effects of Industrialization in Environment and Economy Industrialization may affect the environment in several ways. The industrial gas emissions to the atmosphere may contribute to depletion of the ozone layer (Zheng and Yushuo, 63). The depletion of ozone layer is critical since it significantly influences global warming. Global warming significantly contributes to climate change. This may result in prolonged periods of drought or aridity, thus causing lose of biodiversity. The industrial effluents may also degrade the environment in certain ways. Such effluents may find their ways into water bodies, thus causing deaths of the aquatic organisms (Zheng and Yushuo, 72). Other than the liquid wastes, the solid wastes from industries also pose major health risks to the environment. They deposit several chemical compounds in the soil as they decompose. Such chemicals can alter the soil chemical properties, thus affect agricultural production potentials. In addition, such chemicals may also kill the soil microorganisms, thus leading to loss of biodiversity. The solid wastes from the industries also pose major health risks to human beings as they may cause airborne respiratory diseases. They also produce pungent smell as they decompose, thus polluting the environment. The solid wastes from the industries also lower the aesthetic value of the surrounding, thus causing environmental degradation (Garnaut and Ligang, 54). Environmental degradation may also emanate from mining activities. Mining in this regard may also be viewed as an industry on its own (Lu, 53). Mining activities involve earth-moving operations. These include drilling deep into the soil, blasting of rocks and transportation. Mining activities also involve clearance of vegetation to create space for the operations. These activities render the ground bare of vegetation. This exposes the soil to extremes of aridity, drought and desertification. In addition, mining operations may leave the land derelict. A derelict land is always harmful to the lives of organisms. In addition, derelict lands always have low aesthetic values. The clearance of vegetation to create space for mining operations leads to loss of biodiversity. In addition, leaving the lands derelict lowers the agricultural productivity of the land. Mining operations also involve usage of automobiles. These contribute towards environmental pollution in many ways. The gases emitted by the automobiles to the atmosphere may cause ozone layer depletion resulting to global warming (Lu, 72). In addition, the oil that always drips from such automobiles may cause pollution of underground waters. This causes environmental degradation. The nose produced in the mining sites also contributes immensely towards causing environmental degradation. The Effects of Industrialization in Environment and Economy relevant to Tourism in China The environmental pollution in China has been increasing with the increase in the number of industries as well as increased production of goods to meet the increasing demands of such products in the international scope. In addition, the increased industrial operations in China has widely contributed to increased environmental pollution experienced in China. This has had several severe effects in several sectors of China. These include sectors like Agriculture, health as well as education. However, the worst hit sector in China with regards to industrial pollution is the economic sector. It is noteworthy to mention that the air quality in China has been a major factor of concern for many decades (Imura, 48). This has widely impacted negatively on the sector of economy. For instance, the issue of environmental pollution has massively impacted on the tourism sector in China. In China, tourism accounts for a major percentage of the country’s economy. The country has several tourist attraction sites. This has always contributed towards luring several people across the world to pay visits to China in order to see such tourist attraction sites. In addition, the varieties of foods as well as the Chinese cuisine have been major tourist attraction things that China has enjoyed for several decades (Lu, 48). Moreover, international crave for tourism involving China as the preferred destination has been massively influenced by the magnificent infrastructure as well as advanced architectural structures have majorly contributed towards ensuring greater influx of tourists in China (Feenstra and Shang, 46). This has massively affected the economy of China. The tourists have led to increased gains of foreign exchange, improved trading opportunities as well as exchange of prolific ideas. These have massively contributed towards strengthening the economy of China in the past several decades. However, the issues of environmental pollution emanating from the industries in China have massively impacted towards lowering the number of tourists coming to visit China. This has immensely affected the China’s economy. The issue of environmental pollution in China has massively led to deterioration of the air quality in China (Feenstra and Shang, 38). This has resulted towards harming the lives of the citizens through deteriorating their health statuses. The health complications associated with the poor air quality has massively deterred the influx of tourists in the country. Most of these pollutants come from several industries that emit harmful substances to the environment involving toxic gases and fumes from the motor vehicles that supply as well as deliver goods to and from those industries. These forms of pollutions have been massively associated with increased health risks involving respiratory diseases, irritation to the eyes as well as asthma. In addition, such pollutants may cause health complications such as lung illnesses that may turn tragic in the later days. On the realization of this matter, the tourists have decided to cut on their visits to China (Garnaut and Ligang, 73). This has massively impacted on the China’s economy thereby leading to a drop in the economic status in China. This has been due to the decline in tourism in China that results from the fact that many individuals have decided to distance themselves from visiting places that may negatively impact upon their lives. For instance, in the year 2013 there was a massive drop of tourism activities in China signifying the decline by tourists to come to the country (Imura, 64). In the period between January to June, a drop of five percent in tourism visits to China as a whole was recorded. However, this was worse with regards to Beijing. Beijing is amongst the worst hit cities in China with the issue of industrial pollution. In the period between January and June in the year 2013, a drop of fifteen percent of foreign visitors was recorded in the City of Beijing (Imura, 75 ). This signifies a significant drop in the tourism sector in China following the poor air quality resulting from increased industrial pollution in the country. Therefore, it is of significant importance to note that the issue of industrial pollution in China has had massive negative impacts in relation to the China’s economy. The Effects of Industrialization in Environment and Economy relevant to Production potentials, Health and Employment in China In China, the industrial growth has led to several incidences of environmental pollution as well as pollution related health and economic complications. The increasing number of industries means increase in production activities (Feenstra and Shang, 47). The production processes always involve use of heavy machineries that run on several forms of energy including petroleum, diesel as well as natural gases. These forms of energy sources always lead to emissions of fumes as well as gases to the atmosphere. These are the end products of such forms of energy used in the production process. They therefore form gaseous wastes. These gaseous wastes are very harmful to the atmosphere in several ways. The continued accumulation of such gases in the atmosphere can easily result to global warming. In addition, the increased emission of waste gases in the atmosphere may always accumulate to toxic levels that may negatively affect the health of organisms (Tilt, 54). For instance, inhalation of such gases including sulphur compounds released to the atmosphere from industrial activities may cause respiratory diseases to human beings. In addition, such gases may cause lung infections when people get exposed to them. Moreover, exposure to such gaseous wastes may lead to major health risks involving skin cancers, asthma as well as skin irritations (Feenstra and Shang, 57). These may contribute towards lowering the productivity in such industries, factories as well as companies if the employees are severely affected. This results to dwindling results with regards to economic returns following such industrial practices. The dwindling in such economic returns therefore leads to a dwindling economy of such a nation. This is majorly evident in China and its economy. The increased industrial activities and industrial growth in China has led to increased rates of emission of gaseous wastes in the atmosphere. This has contributed towards deteriorating the health of the individuals as well as the several employees working in different economic sectors within China. For instance, in the year 2013, the air in Beijing, China, was rated as the most hazardous (Imura, 74). Therefore, people were encouraged to decline from all activities that required for an outdoor attention. This involved avoiding such places involving industries, companies as well as factories around the city. This majorly contributed towards ensuring significant drops in the economy of the country. The compromising state of the air quality experienced in this city was a result of combined pollution that emanated from industrial wastes, motor vehicles used within the industries as well as the industrial activities that have been taking place in the region (Imura, 86). These wastes have massively found their way into the atmosphere, air as well as the water bodies. This has affected the lives of human beings, soil organisms as well as the aquatic organisms in different perspectives. The wastes produced from such industries may find their way into water bodies. This may lead to alteration of the water quality. For instance, such wastes may lead to modification of the physical and chemical properties of the water. This leads to a significant shift in the normalcy of the water conditions. As such, the alteration of such water qualities may lead to eutrophication as well as intoxication of water. This leads to massive deaths of the organisms. The death of such aquatic organisms involving fishes contributes significantly towards impacting the economy of the country (Zhang, 75). This follows that the market on such fish products, the activities of such fish processing industries will be hampered thereby leading to a significant drop in the economy of the country. This also contributes towards hampering the tourism activities hence drops in economic levels is experienced. This is one of the situations evidenced in China as a result of environmental pollution emanating from industrial actions. The same thing is also experienced in relation to human beings as is evident in China. For instance, in the year 2012, the global air pollution, mostly from industrial actions, led to the death of approximately seven million individuals. However, in this approximation, more than one third of those counted dead were from the Asia countries. China was ranked the most affected with regards to these deaths. In China, a greater population of individuals succumbed to a wide range of pollution related diseases including cancer, low immunity as well as asthma (Zhang, 69). In addition, the death tolls increased due to the increased cases of nervous system disorders, throat as well as lung infections. These were the major characteristics associated with increased industrial operations leading to increase in environmental pollution in China that majorly degraded the air condition. This contributed towards deteriorating the economy of China in several ways. The high rates of deaths experienced led to massive drop in the human labor required for proper industrial growth. This led to drop in production levels experienced in several economic sectors. The drop in production as well as relatively low quality of such industrial products caused a market deficit whereby the growing demands from the customers globally could not be met. This has massively contributed towards lowering the economy of China. The increased environmental pollution in China has also hampered the job markets of China both in local as well as international perspective (Zhang, 57). This has massively led to drop in economic levels of China. In relation to this, foreign workers have also been shying away from working in China due to the pathetic air conditions that are extremely harmful to their lives. This has majorly affected the economy of China. International Environmental Policies governing the issue of Industrial Pollution in China One of the international policies that could be enforced to deal with the problem of industrial pollution in China is the issue of carbon trade (Yang and Hong, 75). In the international arena, each nation is always expected to ratify programmes focusing on environmental conservation. These involves ratifying such international policies governing the use of such natural resources as well as ensuring their protection. In relation to industrial activities, each country is always allocated pollution quotas in which they are supposed to adhere. Any country that expects to produce more thereby exceeding its allocated quotas is expected to engage in the issue of carbon trade with the less polluting nations. This helps accommodate the excess of the environmental wastes produced by such a country. This is one of the environmental policies that China should focus on relevant to its increased industrial environmental pollution (Yang and Hong, 52). However, this is ethically and morally impractical. This follows that engaging in carbon trade means increased production activities resulting to increased environmental pollution. This is quite challenging to the economy of the country following the fact that both the environmental as well as health costs are going to be very high. It is not morally wise to make huge economic gains at the expense of the lives of individuals in China. This follows that increase in pollution due to increased industrial activities relates to increased health risks (Tilt, 73). Therefore, engaging in carbon trade to increase the rates of industrial pollution will mean substituting the lives of the Chinese with money, thus should be discouraged. Thus, effective measures should be put in place to keep check the industrial activities in China. In addition, the government should come up with several policies that regulate creation of new industries, as well as bar some industrial activities that contribute towards increased pollution. This may also involve regulating the number of personal vehicles that are used in the streets and cities within China to regulate the issue of environmental pollution (Yang and Hong, 83). The issue of carbon trade is also closely related to the policy polluter-pay principle. In this regard, the person responsible for pollution will incur the expenses of such pollution in China. However, this is quite impractical since it pollution even affects the third parties who do not benefit directly from such payments (Dutta, 51). Again, the less concerned parties become severely affected relevant to health issues leading to diseases as well as deaths of such individuals. Works Cited Dutta, Manoranjan. Chinas Industrial Revolution and Economic Presence. New Jersey: World Scientific Pub, 2006. Internet resource. Feenstra, Robert C, and Shang-Jin Wei. Chinas Growing Role in World Trade. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2010. Internet resource. Garnaut, Ross, and Ligang Song. Turning Point in Chinas Economic Development. Canberra, ACT: ANU E Press and Asia Pacific Press, 2006. Internet resource. Imura, Hidefumi. Environmental Issues in China Today: A View from Japan. Tokyo: Springer, 2013. Internet resource. Lu, Haitian. The Role of China in Global Dirty Industry Migration. , 2008. Internet resource. Managi, Shunsuke, and Shinji Kaneko. Chinese Economic Development and the Environment. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar, 2009. Internet resource. Tilt, Bryan. The Struggle for Sustainability in Rural China: Environmental Values and Civil Society. New York: Columbia University Press, 2009. Print. Yang, Mu, and Hong Yu. Chinas Industrial Development in the 21st Century. Singapore: World Scientific, 2011. Print. Zhang, Jing. Foreign Direct Investment, Governance, and the Environment in China: Regional Dimensions. , 2013. Internet resource Zheng, Yushuo, and Chris K. Chan. China: A New Stage of Development for an Emerging Superpower. Hong Kong: City University of Hong Kong Press, 2012. Print. Read More