Globalization, the proliferation of international trade and investment, has positively and negatively affected national economies. A country like China, known for its rapid economic development, has seen the mixed results of globalization directly in the form of the toxic smog that blankets many of its megacities. In this brief essay, I will discuss the environmental catastrophe in China and the many factors that contribute to it, emphasizing globalization’s role.
Industrialization and urbanization accompanying China’s rapid economic growth have been a double disaster for the country’s smoggy megacities, a consequence of the unchecked spread of globalization. Foreign companies rushed to set up shops in China once the country opened its foreign investment and trade markets, resulting in a true industrial explosion (Ye,2020). The insatiable appetite for power possessed by such commercial exploits is supplied mostly through deposits of carbonic rock that emits copious amounts of acidic gases and minuscule particles upon combustion. Furthermore, the immense influx of individuals relocating from pastoral environs to metropolitan ones has enhanced the necessity of conveyance and multiplied the quantity of transports traversing roadways, thereby exacerbating the previously extreme contamination concentrations.
China’s insatiable appetite for power sources, especially in manufacturing and conveyance, has been reinforced by integrating economies and cultures worldwide. Fuel-hungry industries flourished as the country became the global industrial hub, gobbling up vast quantities of fossil fuels (Ye,2020). Greenhouse gases and toxic contaminants are released into the troposphere when coal and other ancient hydrocarbons are burned, further contributing to aerial fouling. Globalization has also increased fuel use and emissions from cargo ships, juggernauts, and aeroplanes, as more goods can be shipped over long distances.
Conversely, the escalation of atmospheric contamination in the realm is attributable to a network of coalitions in the global mechanisms of commercial manufacture. Firms often outsource manufacturing to countries with less favourable labour laws and environmental standards in pursuit of cost savings and increased output. As a result, China has become a major production hub for various industries, dramatically increasing pollution (Ye,2020). Transportation emissions and the cumulative environmental impact of assembly methods are increased by the networks connecting multinational firms to Chinese manufacturing plants.
References
Ye, M. (2020). The Belt Road and Beyond State-mobilised Globalization in China: 1998–2018. Cambridge University Press.
Cite This Work
To export a reference to this article please select a referencing stye below:
