Policy Initiatives Surrounding Nonrenewable Resources in China
The first policy change that helped increase burning of fossil fuels was the transition to market socialism. Adding to this effect, factories often enforce undocumented overtime labor during peak production seasons (Yi & Pun, 2011, p. 66-67). With factories operating for longer hours, more coal is burned and less attention is paid to the needs of the employees, which are often already dismissed or downplayed.
Governmental regulations have been put in place to control the rapid growth of China’s personal transportation sector, decrease the amount of coal burning, and improve other contributors to greenhouse gas emissions (Wang & Liu, 2014, p. 1268, 1270-1271). This includes the “Air Pollution Prevention Action Plan” of 2013, which sets a maximum coal consumption for certain places including Beijing that burn large quantities of coal. The plan instead is to transition to alternative fuels and begin decreasing China’s coal consumption by 2020 (Consumption Cap Plan, pg. 1).
There is a growing market and place for alternative fuel options in China, like “…biofuels, hydrogen, and electricity…” (Wang & Huo, 2009, p. 217).
Geographical context of fossil fuel emission in Beijing
In combination with the modern issues of air pollution are the continually-observed effects of mass deforestation and agricultural land conversions practiced for hundreds of years. The result of such alterations to the land have resulted in loss of biodiversity and oxygen producing sources across China (Marks, 2012, p.15). The massive consumption of fossil fuels and the resulting emissions in Chinese cities have been a relatively recent development in the history of China’s environmentally destructive practices (Wang & Liu, 2014, 1274).
Demographics of those impacted by fossil fuel air pollutants
Cities in China have excessive numbers of laborers comprising the working class and meeting the demand for factory work (Wei et al., 2001, p.6).
China boasted an incredibly large population at the end of the Maoist era that became the essential labor force its economy needed to be competitive (Williamson, 1984, p.688).
Urbanization occurring concurrently with industrialization resulted in masses of rural peasant migration to urban centers (Wei et al., 2001, p.6).
Bibliography:
Marks, (2012). China, Its Environment and History. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield. Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 – pp. 1 – 22.
Natural Resources Defense Council. (2016). The China Coal Consumption Cap Plan and Policy Research Project. Retrieved from https://www.nrdc.org/sites/default/files/china-coal-consumption-cap.pdf.
Wang, M.Q., & Huo, H. (2009). Transportation: meeting the dual challenges of achieving energy security and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Front. Energy Power Eng. China, 3(2), 212-225. doi: 10.1007/s11708-009-0016-y
Wei, S., Wu, Y. (2001). Globalization and inequality: Evidence from within China. National Bureau of Economic Research, 01(1), 1-34.