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If, for instance, you look at what's known as global dimming, so you look at how much sun essentially1 is reaching the planet. In the West, there is much more sun reaching the planet now than there was several decades ago. In China, we are seeing a reverse situation. So there is less and less sun reaching the land than there was a couple decades ago.
Catherine Brahic is an environment reporter for the New Scientist.
In terms of greenhouse gas emissions3, there is some debate as to whether or not China is currently the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gas emissions ahead of the United States. The point is the two are least on a par4 and China is possibly ahead and will certainly be ahead in the next decade.
But at the same time, we should remember China has a huge population of 1.3 billion people. Its per capita carbon dioxide emissions are around four tons per person compared to about ten tons per person in United Kingdom, or twenty tons per person in the United States.
Sam Geall is the deputy editor of China Dialogue who run a website that focuses on environmental issues.
China since 1990s had the highest sustained rate of economic growth in the world. I mean this is growth that has lifted over 200 million people out of poverty, accounts for three quarters of global poverty reduction. But at the same time, Pan Yue, who is a deputy in the Ministry5 of Environmental Protection in China, says quote China's economical miracle will end soon because the environment can no longer keep pace. Acid rain is falling on one third of Chinese territory, half / will turn are seven largest river systems is completely useless in his words. So the crisis he is talking about is very real. There is a very large scale of environmental problem involved in China. Sixteen in the world's twenty most polluted cities are in China, the country is facing a potentially catastrophic loss of biodiversity. And the climate change impacts will increasingly affect the country also.
My name is Shirong Chen. I'm the China editor for the BBC World Service. We are talking about pollution that's affecting literally6 every single one of the 1.3 billion people there.
The World Bank has said that air and water pollution in China causes around 400,000 deaths a year, although this figure has been disputed. Also pollution caused in China equal [equals] 8%-12% of GDP annually7 in direct damage gone through the World Bank.
We are talking about a country growing on average over 10% every year for the past ten years. It's like the Victoria England. China is going through the past a few industry revolutions all in one goal.
Since 2002, carbon dioxide missions have gone from 7% of the global total to more than 24%, though that's just in space of six years. The growth rate is enormous and it's not going to stop. China has this phenomenal economic plans that looked ten fifteen years ahead. And that's going to require a huge amount of energy, and at the moment, the energy supply that they've got is coal, and coal is one of the dirtiest fossil fuels around, it emits four more carbon dioxide per unit burned than any of the other fossil fuels.
So aside from coal, what are the other pollutants8?
There's more and more cars on the streets, there's more and more roads being built, and there's obviously more and more factories and power stations. All of these activities are essentially trucking out those of pollution into the atmosphere.
One industry that's sometimes under-emphasized is the cement industry which is very carbon-intensive, and as a huge impact also on human house in terms of respiratory diseases from air pollution. And if we consider that between now and 2015, half the world's construction will take place in China. You'll get some idea at this scale, the problem.
But should China be held sole accountable for its pollution?
Some research organizations and the environmental campaigners say "look, we've been talking about China being the big polluter." But, when you look at it, and because of the Chinese huge export machine, and China [has] become, we, we'd like to say the manufacturing base for the whole world, actually about 20, 25% of China's pollution should be counted on to other countries where they consume the end-products.
You are listening to the Instant Guide to pollution in China on the BBC World Service.
In 1997, the Kyoto Treaty was introduced with the aim of reducing the emission2 of gases that contribute to global warming. China was one of the countries that signed up to it. Sam Geall.
China is a signatory to the Kyoto Protocol9. It's a signatory as a developing country and it has such doesn't need to reduce its emissions as yet. Although it was the first developing country to have a national climate change program and has such very aggressive targets on adopting renewable energy sources.
The BBC's Shirong Chen.
China, from the central government point of view, realized the problem and they wanted to do something about it. But it doesn't come cheap.
China feels very strongly as a result of its need to develop that the West should be helping10 to pay particularly for technology transfer which will be used for creating a low-carbon economy in China.
Clean coal technology takes money and technology and training and so on. China is also building the most high tech and new generation of nuclear power stations as well. The government has also said target of reducing energy consumption by 20% in the next five years also.
And they've also been taking practical measures.
Apart from setting targets for enterprises to reduce energy consumption, they also encourage environmentally-friendly measures like in the countryside, they want people to put their cow down or something in the pit, so that they produce the methane11 gas, and people can use that for cooking or for other usage. Also if you drive around the suburban12 areas or the countryside, you will notice many buildings with solar panels for hot water, that kind of things as well. It's more prevalent in parts of China than many other places in the world I've been to.
And they take aggressive action too. Catherine Brahic.
There was an example earlier this year, I believe, where I am, a factory was shut down because of the amount of pollution it was pumping out into the local river. So there are certainly consequences at the moment.
During the Olympic Games, China highlighted its efforts to clean up Beijing. And it was reported that the air was cleaner in August this year than it has been during any month in the past decade. This has inevitably13 had an impact.
Now the residents in Beijing know what a good blue sky day looks like. So they say "why can't you do it? why, why if you can do this for the Olympics, for the all, the foreign athletes and so on, so forth14, where can't you do it for the millions and millions of the own residents here? We want it."
At the moment, the measures that are being re-implemented following on the Beijing games, are, they are asking that people leave their car home one day a week and, and that's going to enforced on heavy pollution days which will be measured at stations around the city. They'll also ban half the cars around the city and, and they are doing that using even-and-odd license15 plates.
If China has missed the previous industrial revolutions, they don't wanna do a catch-up game again with the green revolution. But it will take a long time for China to become a real clean model in terms of industrial production. It will take time, it will take money, and it will take for us looking at China from the West a little of patience.
收听单词发音 |
1
essentially
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| adv.本质上，实质上，基本上 | |
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emission
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| n.发出物，散发物；发出，散发 | |
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emissions
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| 排放物( emission的名词复数 )； 散发物（尤指气体） | |
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par
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| n.标准，票面价值，平均数量；adj.票面的，平常的，标准的 | |
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ministry
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| n.(政府的)部；牧师 | |
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literally
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| adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实 | |
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annually
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| adv.一年一次，每年 | |
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pollutants
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| 污染物质（尤指工业废物）( pollutant的名词复数 ) | |
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protocol
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| n.议定书，草约，会谈记录，外交礼节 | |
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helping
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| n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的 | |
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methane
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| n.甲烷，沼气 | |
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suburban
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| adj.城郊的，在郊区的 | |
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inevitably
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| adv.不可避免地；必然发生地 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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15
license
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| n.执照，许可证，特许；v.许可，特许 | |
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