Globalisation
can be defined as the increasing cross-border interaction and intergration if
various aspects of human activity. Based on this view of globalisation,
identify one problematic area if the phenomenon and discuss its influence on
contemporary society. What actual and possible means are there to ameliorate
the issue you have highlighted.
In today's world, a renowned process- Globalisation,
has moved the entire world through transition from where it was at just about
a decade ago. The acceleration in international intercommunication and harmonisation have evidently caused many positive
impacts such as a greater flow of goods, people and ideas across borders. While
globalisation is impacting the world favourably, many problems
have also inevitably arisen, leaving contemporary society to question the overall
impact of globalisation. A leading problem involves the environment and leading
world powers such as China. The slightest carbon footprints left are bound to have
consequences, sometimes only detected after generations. Thus, various means
have been taken to ameliorate the situation such as seeking cleaner energy
alternatives and infrastructure reformations.
Rapid
expansion through globalisation has increased the air pollution levels in China
tremendously, which affects the rest of the world too. Deemed as the leading
world producer, yielding as much as a fifth of overall world output(Marsh,
2011), China currently suffers from a 3.8% GDP loss due to environmental
degradation(Wong, 2013). Many cities have been undergoing major developmental
changes in order to accommodate soaring global consumerism. An USA embassy
measured a pollution particle concentration level of 800ppm(BBC, 2013), nearly
thrice that of the supposedly hazardous level. With fuel burning and car
exhaust emission topping the causes, China has adopted many measures to try to cope with
the situation. Comprising of the introduction
of vehicles including public buses that have low emissions and consume
alternative energy such as Compressed Natural Gas(CNG) in 2005. About 70000
more environmentally friendly vehicles have been permitted on roads since then too.
While this may seem to be successful at first glance, this number is definitely
insignificant when compared as a percentage of total cars which has been
rising. Just over a course of one year since 2008, the number of personal cars
have increased by 25.1%(Dong, 2012) as Chinese have greater purchasing power
with their booming economy. Not only does this result in greater levels of
harmful emissions but also heighten traffic jams whereby precious energy
sources are wasted. The approach on tackling vehicle emission levels has proven
to be ineffective with the worsening air conditions in China today. The
government ought to efficiently take on stricter enforcement or adopt other
measures such as curbing the volume of cars in order to successfully improve
air quality. Lower levels of cars will result in lesser greenhouse gas emissions, thus ameliorating the issue.
Apart from
adopting cleaner energy sources, China has also upgraded their infrastructure
in order to improve the overall condition of its environment as induced by
globalisation. In 2004, China was appointed as host country of the Olympic Games
2008. This motivated China to ensure the world saw them as first-class. Beijing,
being their capital, underwent major development in preparation of the
Olympics. Factories that utilised coal heavily like Capital Iron were culprits
of high air pollution levels and were transferred out of Beijing. This generated
a 30% cut in pollutant discharge(Schleicher,2012) in 2008. More roads and
subway lines were built to ease traffic conditions that were previously heavily
congested as a result of high number of vehicles. Public transportation that
consumed CNG were also introduced and promoted on the roads so much so that
private vehicles were reduced by approximately 34%(Schleicher,2012). All these
measures taken to upgrade the infrastructure along with consistent road
cleaning gave rise to an astounding pollution level of merely 50ppm (Zhou et al.,
2010).
The success of China in lifting its air quality during
the Olympics has demonstrated that stringent execution of laws and measures
can certainly help to accomplish goals. In the this case, China saw that the
Olympics would bring about prosperity to its country, driving them to ensure
the enforcements took place as they were dire at that point of time.
In conclusion,
excellent governance is crucial in safeguarding the environment. Unfortunately,
it appears that the Chinese leaders concentrate significantly more in the
economic aspect of their country. Inevitably, the economic advancements come at
the cost of the environment. In turn, this results in even more internal
problems in the country. While the root of the problem boils down to the phenomenon
mentioned, does this mean China had no ability over controlling its
deteriorating environmental status that is now affecting the world?
(716 words)
References:
BBC, (2013, January). Beijing air pollution soars to hazard level. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-20998147
Dong, C., Huang, G.H., Cai, Y.P., Liu, Y., (2012, January). An inexact optimization modeling approach
for supporting energy systems planning and air pollution mitigation in Beijing
city. Retrieved from http://www.sciencedirect.com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/science/article/pii/S036054421100689X?np=y
Marsh, P., (2011, March). China Noses Ahead as Top Goods Producer. Retrieved from http://www.cnbc.com/id/42065544
Mathews, J., (2007, August). Seven steps to curb global warming. Retrieved from http://www.sciencedirect.com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/science/article/pii/S0301421507000663
Schleicher, N., Norra, S., Chen, Y., Chai, F., Wang, S., (2012,
June). Efficiency of mitigation measures to reduce
particulate air pollution—A case study during the Olympic Summer Games 2008 in
Beijing, China. Retrieved from http://www.sciencedirect.com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/science/article/pii/S0048969712004974
Wong, E., (2013, April). Air Pollution Linked to 1.2 Million Premature Deaths in China. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/02/world/asia/air-pollution-linked-to-1-2-million-deaths-in-china.html?_r=0
Zhuo, Y., Wu, Y., Yang, L., Fu, L., He, K., Wang, S., Hao,
J., Chen, J., Li, C., (2010, June). The
impact of transportation control measures on emission reductions during the
2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China. Retrieved from http://ac.els-cdn.com/S1352231009009157/1-s2.0-S1352231009009157-main.pdf?_tid=66ad25e6-33f9-11e3-8836-00000aab0f26&acdnat=1381663381_cdf5a59d06440f6b92d2bb3033ba75c5
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