One of the most common environmental pollution observed in many parts of the world is the formation of haze. This phenomenon is predominantly visible in those geographies where the air pollution is on the higher side, which may be multiple times more than what has been believed to be safe. Essentially, haze which appears as a blanket of smoke over a wide area occurs when the tiny invisible pollutants suspended in the air absorbs and scatters sunlight thereby reducing the clarity of our vision to a great extent . Air pollution, the primary factor behind haze can be either natural or man-made. Some of the common natural sources include wildfires, windblown dust, volcanic eruptions etc. While the natural causes are few and far between, the main culprit behind the haze that covers our cities and villages is the pollution caused by manmade sources like coal based electricity generation, emissions from motor vehicles, burning of dry leaves and waste materials, industrial emissions etc. which are either directly injected into the air or reacts with air to form particles . The presence of haze in the atmosphere can cause severe health problems to the humans and other living beings exposed to it. In humans, it is known to cause acute respiratory ailments and cancer, affecting the children, senior citizen and patients more intensely. In the past few years, China has been in the news for the wrong reasons of air pollution and formation of haze. It has become a common sight of people walking wearing masks across the city streets in China. Data shows that 9 cities have witnessed more number of ‘hazy’ days than Beijing in 2013; the worst affected being Xingtai, which say 129 days of unhealthy air in 2013 . The situation is so severe that as per the estimates, air pollution has contributed to 1.2 million premature deaths in 2010 in China, which was almost 40 percent of the global figures . This essay will focus on the phenomenon of Haze in China, analyzing the nature of the issue and geographical patterns, the major causes, effects, mitigation methods and strategies and the future outlook.
Overview of the region- China
China is one of the oldest surviving civilizations of the world, with its culture dating back to as much as 4000 years . Currently, China is the world’s most populous country and second largest economy behind U.S on the basis of nominal GDP. Over the years, China has transformed itself from a centrally controlled closed economy to a capitalist natured manufacturing and exporting one. The progress of China since the early 2000s has been rapid, with high growth achieved over all these years. The growth of the nation created thousands of job opportunities and every year more and more people were pulled out of poverty. The capitalist style of economic transformation had a few disadvantages as well, in addition to the numerous benefits that it brought. There is the growing problem of inequality, rapid urbanization, marginalization of the weaker sections of the society etc. More importantly, the rapid economic growth led to an explosive growth in the purchasing power of its citizens. Currently, China is the world’s largest automobile market in the world and the largest exporter of finished goods. Today China is known as the manufacturing hub of the world and global MNCs have made significant investments in the country to establish factories and commence business in and exports from China. The rapid progress of China also has made it the single largest emitter of fossil fuel CO2 . Geographically, China is the fourth largest country in the world where the land mass is mostly mountainous, as well as high plateaus, deserts, plains and deltas enjoying a diverse climate- subarctic in the north and tropical in the south . As mentioned above, China faces a host of environment issues like high levels of air pollution caused by sulfur dioxide and greenhouse gases as well as water pollution caused by rapid and unplanned urbanization, deforestation, loss of agricultural land, desertification etc.. The next section will analyze the reasons for haze in the China.
Causes of Haze
The haze trouble in China can be related directly to the development model adopted and its success. The most common pollutants identified include nitrogen dioxide, particulate matter, carbon monoxide and sulfur dioxide. The most common causes of haze identified include-
Coal powered thermal plants- In order for transforming China into the most preferred manufacturing and exporting location, the government of China had to ensure availability of uninterrupted electricity for the global MNCs to set up shop and start operations. In the last two decades, China has built and commissioned a large number of coal fired thermal power plants, which solved the power problem, but opened up another, which is choking its cities these days. It is estimated that these power plants generate and supply up to 80% of the total electricity generated in China . Unfortunately, these plants are the biggest contributor of air pollutants like sulfur dioxide and soot as well. If China has to do a cleanup, this dependence on coal should be the first in the list to go.
Automobiles- China, the largest passenger car market in the world sold over 19.71 million cars in 2014 , comfortably beating U.S, the runner up. With the economy witnessing a radical transformation, a large number of people entered the middle class and upper middle class strata of the society, with the sufficient purchasing power to buy and own cars for personal use. Combined with this, the government also supported car ownership in order to keep up the momentum of growth of the automobile industry facilitating easy availability of vehicle loans. As the pollution levels increased, the attraction of personal transport also increased as people preferred to travel in the air conditioned comfort rather than slogging it out in the vicious atmosphere by opting for public transport. In 2013, cars accounted for almost 22 percent of PM 2.5 in Beijing . Since China is primarily a market for gasoline (or petrol) powered cars, the major harmful emissions from automobiles include CO2, CO, Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) and Nitrogen Oxides (NOX). Currently steps are in place to limit the number of cars by allotting lottery system for license plates. But it is seen that these steps are circumvented by owning a second car or by removing the license plates.
Construction- To drive the economy, the government had and still is promoting the construction industry in a big way. Huge residential and office complexes are built across the cities and towns and great push has been imparted on building new highways and rail roads. All of these steps have put considerable strain on the environment as the natural resources are exploited relentlessly. Construction activities involves deep excavations and utilization of a large quantity of cement, sand and water, which are all polluting the atmosphere at the construction sites.
Topography and Weather- It has been observed that high humidity levels and high surface wind speeds have resulted in the formation of an inversion layer trapping pollutants . Also, when the temperature dips, people resort to burning un-cleaned coal to keep themselves warm which also contributes significantly to the air pollution.
Irregular growth pattern- The government focused on city specific investment and growth which drove millions from the rural areas of China to the big and small cities in the nation. This has resulted in the concentration of activities around these cities resulting in high emission levels that far exceed what their environment can absorb.
Impact of Haze
This section will briefly explain the ill effects of haze, the damage that it causes to the health of humans and the environment. Haze can cause significant damage not just to the human health, but also to the environment in the form of acid rain, damage to the buildings and even affects car paints. Some of the major impacts of haze include-
Impact on health- Obviously, the most important cause of worry is the impact of haze on the health of people living in China. Haze, formed as a result of air pollution will cause short as well as medium adverse impacts on health. The short term impacts include respiratory problems, difficulty in breathing, headache, nausea, palpitation, blurred vision, burning sensation in eyes and nose, skin rashes etc. These short term impacts, if persists for long can lead to further complications like asthma, lung/skin cancer, weakened immunity, heart ailments, stroke, partial or full and permanent loss of vision, bronchitis, premature deaths etc. The worst affected are children, elderly population, pregnant women and people suffering from various other diseases.
Economic impacts- Haze has caused severe impact on the Chinese economy. It has been estimated that Beijing suffered 60 days of heavy pollution in 2013 and was ranked 10th among the Chinese cities. Xingtai led the list with 129 days followed by Shijiazhuang, Baoding, Handan, Hengshui, Langfang, Jinan, Tangshan and Zengzhou leading ahead of Beijing in the number of highly polluted days. During these days, the business slows down, airports halts their operations and people stops going out of their homes, directly impacting the economy. Also, of late the government has initiated steps including temporary shutdown of factories and reduction in production output to deal with the emissions. In addition to these losses are the amount spent on treating the citizens of China suffering from various haze triggered ailments. According to a Chinese news report in 2013, the cost of environmental degradation caused as a result of air pollution was estimated to be around $ 230 billion, which is three times that of in 2004 . It may not be an exaggeration, if it is stated that the air pollution is one of the major causes for the recent slowdown happening in the Chinese economy. Haze is also known to cause or contribute to global warming.
Impact on agricultural output- The heavy layer of haze spread over the landscape blocks the sunlight from reaching the earth, which adversely impacts the agricultural output. Plants will not be able to undergo the photosynthesis process as the haze sticks to the greenhouse surfaces thereby blocking the sunlight. He Dongxiang, associate professor, China Agricultural University conducted an experiment by growing chilly and tomato seeds in lab and a greenhouse located in one of the Beijing suburbs. The experiment revealed that the seeds sprouted in approximately 20 days, whereas the one grown in the greenhouse took almost two months to show any sign of life .
Topography and Haze
The geographical location plays a very important role in the formation of haze. Generally, haze is formed when there is high humidity in the atmosphere and absence of winds. Seasonal variations also influences the formation of haze. One of the most significant geographical effect that is known to create haze in eastern China is the ‘harbor effect’. Also, as this area is closer to the sea and a valley to the mountainous and plateau of western China, the haze formation will be rapid and will linger on for a long time as the wind which has to blow the haze away gets blocked by these mountains and plateaus. This topographical disadvantage combined with the high pollution and presence of moisture imparts the perfect background for the formation of haze.
Future Outlook
Measures from the government for controlling emissions started as early as in 2000, during the 10th five year plan targeting a 10 percent reduction in sulfur dioxide by 2005 . The plan failed miserably, so as a few more half-hearted attempts till 2012. By the year 2012, things were getting out of control and it was for the first time that the government came up with a solid emission control proposal when it approved the first national standard for PM2.5 at 35 microgram per cubic meter . In 2012, the government also brought along the 12th five year plan, where it issued regulations for three key regions and ten city clusters, covering 117 cities . Stricter norms and enforcement followed in 2013 with clear guidelines on the achievement targets which focused primarily on the policy change to promote public transport and clean energy production . The 2013 guidelines targeted reduction of emissions to GDP ratio by 30 percent in 2017. Other major targets included reduction of PM10 concentration by 10 percent by 2017 and up to 25 percent reduction of PM2.5 by the same year. Also, clear guidelines were issued on scrapping old and polluting public transport vehicles and promotion of public transportation, alternate energy driven vehicles and improving the fuel quality in the country .
Following this, Beijing passed the regulation for pollution and emission control in January 2014. The regulation provided strict guidelines on the emission control and higher penalties for violations. Under this regulation, Beijing is bound to reduce the emissions by introducing quota and license system to individuals to own passenger vehicles and burning coal for domestic and industrial purpose . The regulations also advocates guidelines to ensure availability of low sulfur content high quality fuel. With the stricter enforcement of emission norms, oil companies in China will have no other option than to produce low sulfur content fuels that emit much lesser pollutants. Also, China is now investing heavily in renewable energy sources like solar and wind power in an attempt to reduce the dependency on coal fired thermal power plants which are big on pollution.
The future looks much clearer and brighter for China. With all the required policies in place, implementing them without any fail will definitely help China to get rid of the haze and ensure its citizens can breathe easy and see clearly.
Conclusion
With the sole focus of achieving economic prosperity, the past policies of China may have largely ignored the adverse environmental impacts that the envisioned prosperity will bring along. From the days of promoting car ownership to welcoming industries, China is now in the process of transforming itself into a clean energy driven economy where people commute in comfortable and efficient public transportation system without wearing any facial masks to protect themselves from the deadly haze. With their economic hotspots getting immersed in haze for a large number of days per year, China has learnt it in the hard way that the environmental pollution is expensive as well as dangerous to the health of its people. The government upon realizing the risk has taken strong measures to curb pollution and make the cities livable again.
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