Environmental policies Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Environmental policies - Research Paper Example On the other hand, the rule of Mao was succeeded by a period of first even more massive suffering but also later the unprecedented turnaround in the economy with a formerly agricultural and inward-looking country economy reversing its trajectory and coming to grow into four times what it was during the time of Mao to what it ended up becoming by the turn of the new millennium. Living standards skyrocketed, and China's economic boom resulted in the creation of a large middle class who consumed products that were in line with the rapidly rising incomes of the new rich: cars and the other symbols of wealth. This in turn has led to problems with the environment, as the economic growth spurred the consumption of oil and coal to power industries that manufactured goods for the rest of the world and to power domestic consumption as well. Other manufacturing-related processes also bred other forms of toxins to the environment as well as razed some vital ecologies into the ground in the name of progress and consumption as well. A telling set of statistics on the role that China plays in the global ecology versus economic equation is that it leads the world both in the production and consumption of energy, and that out of its total energy requirements,two-thirds are supplied by fossil fuels, with a substantial portion likewise supplied by nuclear power plants. These two power sources have implications for the state of the world ecology and for the sustainability of energy generation policies relative to the environment (Central Intelligence Agency). Taking a step back, the prominent role of China in the world economy and in the way their activities impact the environment have not gone unnoticed and have attracted the intense scrutiny of those who are natural stakeholders in the state of the world ecology and the environment, and that this intense scrutiny has provided a growing body of literature on the environmental policies of China. From the state of the nation's soil s and water supplies, to the examination of how China's environmental policies have attracted investments in their laxness, to aspects of policy relating to the environment versus the rise of cities, it is clear from the academic research that the concern over the environment in China is intense and far-reaching (Wei and Yang; Dean, Lovely and Wang; Vennemo et al.. Hubacek et al.). The consensus, even inside China and among China's ruling elite, is that current environmental policies and economic activities are harming China's future and are jeopardizing prospects for a sustainable future for the country, with the state of the environment characterized by rising levels of pollution that have implications for larger realities like climate change and the very viability of the way of life of the Chinese, and the long-term health prospects of its citizens (Volcovici, Grumbine; Friedman; Phillips; Duggan; Biello; The Economist Newspaper Limited; TV Novosti). II. Environmental Policies in