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A Compare and Contrast of Environmental Protection between China and America
[I]I. Introduction
Environmental protection has become the most important problem in the world today. The global greenhouse effect, the diversity of living beings, the shortage of water,
desertion of farmland and so on has a wide effect all over the world. The seriousness of
the environment has influenced each country’s polices, economics, sciences and even
lifestyles. Have you ever thought about how two different countries deal with the same
environmental problems on different levels? China and America are both super countries
in the contemporary era, because their environments have a deep influence on the global environmental situation. As a Chinese student living in America, I deeply recognize some obvious differences between the Chinese and American environment. In this paper, I will discuss the current environmental situation in both countries and different environmental
protection policies and ideas between China and America.
[I]II. The current situation of environment in China and America
In the summer, 1998, I went to the upper reaches of Changjiang River to find forests. But I felt
desperate that I couldn’t even see one tree! I looked around, tears came out of my eyes, the
former farmland disappeared and deserts took the place of them. Dry lakes were like eyes of blinds and stared at me. I had a deep breath but only felt sands rushing into my nose. XiZang (A west province of China), the last paradise of human beings is being disappeared and who can save it?!
---Yi Zheng, the end of China·report of Chinese environment crisis, 2002.3
Yi Zheng, a famous Chinese writer, paints a desperate picture of China’s current
environmental nightmare. Although the situation is not yet as hopeless as Yi Zheng describes in his books, China really faces a severe test of a series of serious environmental problems:
[LIST]
Poor air quality (Both urban and indoor)
Serious waste of water shortages, especially acid rain
Solid waste
Noise pollution
Soil erosion [/LIST](Christopher J.Smith, 2000:378)
From the 1999 statistics below, we can see that of the 47 cities, 33.1% met the second national level standard of air quality and 66.9% surpassed the second national level standard of air quality, among which 19 cities surpassed the third level standard, accounting for 40.5% of the statistic cities. Air pollution is one of the most important environmental issues in China.
[I]On April. 22, 1970 in America, 20 million people joined the citizen environmental protection movement which produced the first Earth Day. Environmental problems have been a thorny case for a long time in the American society. As the most developed country in the world, the USA really has a lot of environmental troubles hidden below the prosperous surface.
[I]
[LIST]
[I]Excessive use of energy. For example, the main energy of the world, like fossil oil, will probably be impossible to sustain current levels of industrial production for more than 50-75 years.( [I]Riley E.Dunlap & William Michelson, 2002:234)
[I]Burning of fossil fuels and crowded urban transportation lead to air pollution and acid rain.
[I]Overwhelming rate of species extinction. About 1/3 species face extinction, which include 5000 kinds of flowers, 150 kinds of prawn, 113 kinds of birds, 70 kinds of mammal, 318 kinds of fishes, 98 kinds of amphibians.(statistics from [U]http://www.xiayidai.com.cn/tnsg/lsjy/lszz/lsda/004.htm[/U])
[I]“The ecological balance is being destroyed, for example, between 1986 and 1997, an estimated 58,500 acres of wetlands were lost each year in the continuous United States” ([I]Miguel A.Santos, 1999:57-63).[/LIST][I]
[I]
[I]From the above examples and statistics, we can clearly understand that environmental crisis has become a threat to today’s America, which needs to develop a combination with China’s environmental problem. They both are influenced by the world’s overall environment and also have a key effect on the world’s environment. What causes the serious environmental problems? The reasons can be found both historically and currently.
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[I]III. The reasons for the degradation
The Chinese government and people have struggled a long time on how to improve the environment, but why does it have [I]such a heavy burden of environmental problems? First, we should consider some historical reasons.
[I]
[I]
[I]Have 5000 years of history, China did a lot for environment in the past, like the
[I]
[I]famous Zhao Zhou bridge and Du jiang dam, which still have a great effect today.
[I]
[I]However, history also gave us some bad heritages.
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[I]China[I] has the biggest population in the world, which brings a heavy burden on the
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[I]environment. Population growth is mainly blamed for the deterioration of natural
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[I]resources. And on the contrary, the environmental pollution also leads to serious healthy
problems. This interaction is just like a vicious circle. Another reason is that most of the Chinese industries concentrate in the east area, especially some ports along East Sea, and lead to a disequilibrium of the environment. This historical reason contributes to much more serious environmental problems in eastern rather than western China. It makes it very difficult for the government to deal with the environmental cases. In addition, during the past 100 years, China had experienced many countries’ aggression and frequently wars broke out all over the country. Wars destroyed much of the environment of this country. Besides these reasons, unlimited reclaim virgin soil, high cost of productivity and so on also brought in the [I]degradation of the environment.
(I got this knowledge during my high school geography and history classes)
“China's environmental predicament reflects both the legacy of history and new
factors associated with the transition to a market economy” ([I]Weijiong Zhang; Ilan
[I]
[I]Vertinsky; Terry Ursacki; Peter Nemetz [I]1999:26). The most important is the
highest rate of urbanization and industrialization . [I]Rapid urbanization causes serious soil erosion, which has become the largest problem in China today. “The analysis also indicates that the temperature of earth surface rises 0.05 per decade due to the urbanization”([I]Shaolin Yang; Tor Hundloe; Robert Cramb,[I] 2005:10). At the same time, the growing industrialization of China has led to a sizable reduction in arable farmland. Industrialization uses a great deal of water, while water shortage threatens most of China’s big cities.
“The small township enterprises growth also important due to the aggravation of environment, such as small coal mines, steel, electroplating, fertilizer, textile, cigarette, cement and machinery factories.[I] These enterprises are typically small, lack capital, and employ low-level technology and production processes; most of them have no pollution control devices at all”([I] Weijiong Zhang; Ilan Vertinsky; Terry Ursacki; Peter Nemetz,1999:29). Population still has a big effect on Chinese environment, how to control the population is one of the most important targets of the government.
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[I]James Carville famously said in 1992, “It’s the economy, stupid!” answering what is the most important in causing American environmental deterioration. The American environmental problems are probably driven by these reasons: Technology, the pursuit of wealth let people use so many harmfully technologies so that environment becomes the biggest victim. Market and political failure together reflect American flawed political economy, which does not work when it comes to protecting environmental resources and correct the environmental system([I] James Gustave Speth, 2004:120,127,132). Population is the mainly result of the overwhelming rate of species extinction.
[I]
[I]And since 1992, the “Race-to-the-Bottom” theory has been popular. This theory posits that “federal regulation is needed to prevent states from competing for industrial development by reducing their environmental standards to ‘sub-optimal levels’” ([I]David L. Markell, 2003:296; [I]Meil E.Harrison & Gary C.Bryner, 2003:22). This theory leads to the consequence that environment become heavily damaged after unlimited industrial development.
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[I]Environmental protection is an international problem, industrialization and globalization are two main reasons due to the environmental degradation. So for both America and China, with the development of the economic, the environment will face more and more serious challenges (Tao Hu, online speech, 02 September, 2004, 19:40 [U]http://www.people.com.cn/GB/huanbao/8220/41430/41433/3029076.html[/U]). But comparing these two countries, America has some advantages which China does not have, such as better geographic position and high quality of people’s education so they can realize environment’s importance quickly. Furthermore, American people have a more perfect democratic sense, but China’s environmental protection is from top (government) to bottom (people), so it is lack of one’s own accord. But China also has some advantages that America doesn’t have. China is now in the golden developing period and it is anticipated “this develop speed will continue till 2010. This developing trend gives environmental protection guarantee and driving force ”(China and America, who has a better environmental protection, 23, April, 2005 [U]http://www.huanqing.org/Article_Show.asp?ArticleID=591[/U]). From a Chinese person’s point of view, China is now just like a piece of sponge, absorbing useful information from the world as more as possible, while America is just like a full man, it can not eat any more. So China can receive new technology quickly from other countries, even from America.
As the biggest two countries in the world, although both have disadvantages and advantages, America and China should develop a relationship of cooperating and combination to solve their environmental problems.
[I] [I]Great environmental problems not only result in human living conditioning decline, but also obstructs the economic developing in normal speed. So how to solve environmental problems become both Chinese and American governments’ most important target.
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[I]In carrying out the environmental protection, the two countries have some similarities. First, the government pays great attention to this problem. China has developed an advanced policy called Sustainable Development Policy, which means “it maintains a delicate balance between the human need to improve lifestyles and feeling of well-being on one hand, and preserving natural resources and ecosystems, on which we and future generations depend” (Definition from: [U]http://www.gdrc.org/sustdev/definitions.html[/U]). China upholds the environmental protection policy of combining prevention and control with an emphasis on prevention, pursues clean production, and strictly controls the total volume of emissions of major pollutants. “It seeks to strengthen the prevention and control of water pollution in key valleys and regions and to desulphurize coal-fired power plants”. It has increased government investment in environmental protection “while at the same time promoting market-based sewage and rubbish treatment operations” ([I]Li Shijia, 17 May 05; [I]Rob Schultheis,[I] 2004:26). Chinese government will continue to carry out ecological projects such as turning farmland into forest and turning pastures into grasslands and prevent soil erosion, desertification, and the destruction of flora and fauna at the same time, the USA federal government also take actions to save the nation’s environment. It has produced in 1970 the most important body of conservation law and used till now: the National Environmental Policy Act(NEPA), the Council on Environmental Quality(CEQ), and the Environmental Protection Agency( EPA). (Definition of the law from [U]http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/epa_309.htm[/U]) The federal government also published kinds of legislations that include water, wetland, air, the ocean, energy, natural lands and so on. Besides legislation, the government also uses the medium to propagandize. For example, look up the stamp below, between 1986 and 1997, an estimated 58,500 acres of wetlands were lost each year in the contiguous United States. So government published this stamp to let people realize the desperate situation of nation’s wetlands. ([I]Status and Trend:[U]http://www.epa.gov/OWOW/wetlands/vital/status.html[/U])
The second similarities are that they both receive highly attention of the whole world. Their environmental policies are of interest to the rest of the world for at least three reasons:
· Big population proportion on the planet;
· China is the biggest market for the world’s technology, services and products and the USA is the most developed country;
· The research on their environment can offer other countries experiences and examples.
([I]Weijiong Zhang; Ilan Vertinsky; Terry Ursacki; Peter Nemetz [I]1999:23)
Although the world shows highly concern for both countries, the two countries have different attitudes toward the world. The environmental policies and ideas have a lot of differences between China and America.
American environmental protection has some advantage that China needs to improve, such as having more diversity, creativeness and flexibility. So America can adjust its guiding principle more quickly than China. And because the USA is a federal country, “each state has its own law to protect environment, and they report their attain achievement to the EPA”. ([I]David L. Markell, 2003:296; [I]Meil E.Harrison & Gary C.Bryner, 2004:300) Another very interesting difference is that American environmental protection agency was first appearing among the people but the National Environmental Production Department didn’t set up until 1972. On the contrary, Chinese environmental protection is from top to bottom that the folk institution did not build up until 1990(Yan Qing, VOA 24, May, 2004 1:25:44 AM). But this system gave China more space to develop and strengthen environmental protection consciousness on citizens and individuals.
Viewing the problem from China’s angle, China also has some advantages that America does not have. Because China is a democratic centralism country, so Central Committee of the party is the core of the whole country. Compared with America, China has much less barriers when promoting new policies from central to bottom. And China devotes its environmental protection to the whole world, so it develops an international ecosystem management. This gives China more opportunities to cooperate with other countries in the world. And in the political behavior, China does much better than America. When China develops its environmental protection, it always consider about the whole world’s profit. But America put itself in the centre position of the world so it demoralizes the other countries in the world. (“[I]China and America, who has a better environmental protection?”[I] 23, April, 2005 [U]http://www.huanqing.org/Article_Show.asp?ArticleID=591[/U])
<H2 style="MARGIN: 12pt 0in 3pt"> Although China has a lot of environmental problems these years, the government and citizens have been conscious of the threat. Since People Republic of China set up in 1949, the China’s environmental protection cause has obtained big achievements. After China joined WTO, China has become more and more open and this is a golden period for China to develop environmental protection. China has a proverb that said: Unity is strength. So with the struggle of the whole nation, China’s environment will have a bright future.
During more than thirty years’ struggle, environmental protection has been well received by most of the American citizens. The American government also has been aware that environment takes an indispensable role in the country’s economics development, so environmental protection will become the most important problem for a very long time in the future.
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发表于 2006-3-10 05:30:24
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