Deforestation and gas emissions---the main catalysts for climate change in China!

According to the World Resources Institute, more than 80 percent of the Earth’s natural forest already have been destroyed” (“Forest holocaust”,n.d.). “Emissions trends are continuing upwards, which contradicts political rhetoric globally,” Bill Hare, a Greenpeace adviser, said during the 166-nation U.N. climate talks in Bonn (“US Greenhouse Gas Emissions Up”, 2007). Since China is facing the same problems, deforestation and gas emissions have become the main catalysts for climate change since the 1990s to now.

While population growth has been cited as the main cause, the most important reasons for deforestation are economic. In fact, most reasons can be divided into two aspects---agriculture and industry. Due to overpopulation, water and the most other natural resources are not enough to meet the demands for Chinese people. However, the most crucial need is to have enough space for farming. Because of the limited arable land, large areas of trees have been felled to give room for agriculture. According to Freedman (n.d.), nomads are also forced to log trees to make space for cattle-raising and use woods for cook and heating. At the same time, mining also provides considerable economic profits which are much greater for people involved than the value of keeping the forests standing on the earth. As a result, the forest ecosystem is destroyed and the soil is exposed to the air. Without flora keeping the water in the soil, the soil becomes poorer and poorer. Gradually, parts of the soil change to sand, which increases the evaporability of the water in the soil and desertification appears eventually. Since the sands are too loose, every time a gale blusters sandstorms happen. Research done by China Meteorological Administration (CMA) has shown that sandstorms happen more frequently in the northeast part of China, from 9 times in 1999 to 18 times in 2006. Moreover, forests also can protect us from typhoons and floods. Thus, deforestation is one of the reasons that make the climate in China change a lot.

Gas emission is another major that leads to the climate change. Most cities of China, especially in western part, are still using coal as the main fuel for heating in winter. However, in order to lower the cost, the quality of coal cannot be guaranteed so that there are too many impurities in the coal. Hence, some harmful gases like sulfur dioxide and sulfur monoxide are released when people burn coal. Furthermore, eastern China is also facing the same severe air pollution but with a different reason. The dense population, smoke-belching factories and the large number of cars have produced dangerous levels of nitrogen oxide and nitrogen dioxide, especially in big cities in China such as Beijing and Hong Kong. The research down by University of Hong Kong shows that the air in Hong Kong contains almost three times more soot and other pollutants than New York’s and more than twice that of London (Ying Lou, 2007). As a consequence, when the harmful gasesing the atmosphere combined with rain water it leads to acid rain which can damage flora, animals and buildings fatally. In “Effects of Acid Rain” (n.d.), it is stated that the main components in acid rain are nitric acid and sulphuric acid which can directly destroy the protein of organisms and because of chemical reaction, calcium carbonate the main component of cement will be eroded also (“Effects of Acid Rain”, n.d.).

In a nutshell, deforestation and gas emissions are the two main catalysts for climate change in China. Sandstorms, typhoons, acid rains and many other natural disasters will be caused by these two problems. People cannot pretend to ignore those effects which are vitally related to the future generation. Thus, actions have to be done and sustainable development has to be called on!


Reference:
Freedman, B. (n.d.). Causes of deforestation. Retieved March 16, 2008, form,
http://science.jrank.org/pages/1976/Deforestation-Causes-deforestation.html

Effects of Acid Rain. (n.d.). Retrieved March 15, 2008, from,
http://faculty.plattsburgh.edu/thomas.wolosz/acid_rain.htm

Doyle, A. (May 9, 2007). US Greenhouse Gas Emissions Up. Retrieved March 16, 2008, from,
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/05/09/107

Forest holocaust. (n.d.). Retrieved March 16, 2008, from,
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/eye/deforestation/effect.html

Lou, Y. (2007). Blue skies may cost dolphins dear. Hong Kong: The Standard.