Coal pollution has always been a prominent problem
world-wide, especially in the Northern region of China. Here recently, researchers
have been able to invest more time in exploring the issue. The coal pollution
stems from 1950-1980 when the Chinese government provided free coal to homes
and offices located North of the Huai River and Qinling Mountain range. Due to
the chilly winters, the government distributed the coal to be utilized for
heating systems. Although this program ended, the use of these heating systems
and coal still continues to this day. The life expectancy of Northern Chinese
citizens is now 5.52 years lower compared to South China due to the air
pollution. Since there are 50 million people living in this area that equates
to 2.5 billion years of life expectancies lost. As you can imagine, this number
does not only come from heating systems but other forms of pollution including coal-burning
power plants. Major cities in Northern China such as Beijing, Tianjin, Lanzhou,
and Harbin are ranked among the most polluted cities in the world. The coal
pollution also adds to the high amounts of smog present in populated areas. The
nitrides produced by coal production then combine with the oxygen (O2)
in the air to make nitrate, a brown gas, making the sky appear a dark gloomy grey
color.
Dan Greenbaum, president of Boston-based Health Effects
Institute, was quoted saying "the process of implementing rules that deal
with air pollution are significant-having the rules in place, having staff to
implement and enforce the rules, and making sure enforcement systems are not
subject to potential corruption." In conclusion, as of now there aren’t many
solutions that will solve this problem. Obviously there are other options that
are considered more environmentally friendly such as wind energy. This option
provides a clean and renewable source of energy that could decrease the
dependency on coal. However, getting half of China to convert to clean energy
would be extremely difficult, time consuming, and costly. If half of the people
in China now have a reduced life expectancy of five years this is obviously a
major problem that the Chinese government needs to handle. As a possible
solution they could give those that convert to clean energy an incentive. Also,
the government could observe what less polluted areas are doing differently and
bring those ideas back to Northern China.
China's coal pollution is becoming a huge problem. It not only affects China, but also neighboring countries. Since their energy source can't be changed immediately I feel that a new energy source should be introduced over the course of several years. Hopefully over time China's coal pollution will become less of a problem.
ReplyDeleteCoal pollution has been a huge problem in China for many years. You would think they would do something about it, but there has not been that much movement. While the idea of a new energy source is great, there are many problems that come along with it as well. China is a huge country, heavily populated by many citizens. It is one of the busiest countries out there and change cannot happen that easily. I feel that small and minor changes to the environment would have a greater effect, although it may be gradual and slow. A big change would be too sudden and many citizens may find it hard to adjust, so it would be best to ease into the problem instead of diving headfirst.
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