Recent years have been marked with increased effects of pollution and growing harmful impact of humans’ activities on the planet. Since people are now paying attention to pollution, scientists and activists have started searching for effective ways to reduce its level and adverse influence on nature, animals, and humans themselves. During the last years, environmental degradation in China has been becoming more and more severe, but if people and government are more aware and involved, it will be possible to improve the situation to some extent.
To begin with, the state of China’s environment is truly devastating and alarming. Reports show that solid waste emissions, wastewater, dust, smoke, and sulfur dioxide greatly contribute to the overall pollution of nature (Liu & Lin, 2019). Thankfully, the seriousness of the situation has not been left without consideration. According to researchers, “the Chinese government has formulated a series of environmental policies and regulations aimed at improving environmental quality” (Zhang et al., 2019, p. 25775). For example, in 2013, the Air Pollution Action Plan was released by the government to help the nation significantly improve air quality and address the alarming trends.
What is more, citizens of China are also becoming more involved. Those who have personally experienced the negative effects of environmental pollution are now more aware and have developed pro-environmental behaviors, which is another positive sign (Chen et al., 2013). Further, as noticed by Vennemo et al. (2020), “China is able to contain, and to some extent improve, air and water quality” (para. 1). Therefore, though the situation is alarming and threatening, the Chinese government and citizens are not indifferent to the state of their environment and are trying to improve it with rulings and better attitudes.
To draw a conclusion, one may say that China is not the only country that had accidentally let pollution become uncontrolled. However, current policies and behaviors matter more than the previous attitudes. The Chinese government now is more involved in the situation and is trying to improve it with the introduction of new effective acts and rulings. Consequently, if China continues on addressing the environmental state, it will be possible to stop its degradation.
References
Chen, X., Peterson, M. N., Hull, V., Lu, C., Hong, D., & Liu, J. (2013). How perceived exposure to environmental harm influences environmental behavior in urban China. AMBIO, 42, 52–60.
Liu, K., & Lin, B. (2019). Research on influencing factors of environmental pollution in China: A spatial econometric analysis. Journal of Cleaner Production, 206, 356-364.
Vennemo, H., Aunan, K., Lindhjem, H., & Seip, H. M. (2020). Environmental pollution in China: Status and trends. Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, 3(2).
Zhang, K., Xu, D., & Li, S. (2019). The impact of environmental regulation on environmental pollution in China: An empirical study based on the synergistic effect of industrial agglomeration. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 26, 25775–25788.