In China, there are often smogs and severe haze in their main cities like Beijing.

Beijing. October 10, 2014. Photograph by Reuters/Kim Kyung-Hoon

The economic growth of China causes a massive spike in car ownership, and the heavy traffic is the main cause of the air pollution. As the majority of China’s population owns their own cars, it is inevitable that the air is polluted. One preventive measure aken by the Chinese government is that they impose a lottery where only those who won could register for a number plate.

Other than the heavy traffic, another reason to why China have polluted air is that they have an industry that still growing too rapidly. China was slow in developing and reforming their resource-intensive economy. This results in industries that consume a lot of energy and are high in producing pollutants to grow very rapidly and that puts huge pressure on the environment. That causes air pollution too.

The air pollution in China is causing a lot of havoc in the environment nationally and gloablly.

Chinese scientists say stated that the country’s toxic air pollution resembles a nuclear winter. Plants are photosynthesising at a slower rate, and that is putting a toll on China’s food supply. He Dongxian, an associate professor at China Agricultural University’s College of Water Resources and Civil Engineering, studied new researches and warned that if the smog still continue to be so serious, the agriculture in China will experience situations that are like a nuclear winter.

Globally, the smog is taking a toll on the climate. According to scientists in the US, pollution from Asia is leading to more intense cyclones, increased precipitation and more warm air in the mid-Pacific moving towards the north pole. They stated that the biggest contributor of the pollution is China. A study compared aerosol emission levels across Asia over the past 30 years and concluded that the pollution is directly aggravating global weather systems. They stated that the model shows that most of the pollution comes from Asia.

According to the article titled China’s air pollution leading to more erratic climate for US, say scientists,

“This pollution affects cloud formations, precipitation, storm intensity and other factors and eventually impacts climate. Most likely, pollution from Asia can have important consequences on the weather pattern here over North America.”

Thus air pollution is not just an isolated incident. It is a global issue. Human activities are the cause of it, and the environment is suffering dire consequences,

Sources:

Heavy air pollution blankets northern China, reaches ‘hazardous’ levels

China says polluting industry still growing too fast, heavy smog alert for Beijing

China’s air pollution leading to more erratic climate for US, say scientists