Developed nations Essay Example for Free

Developed nations Essay Developed nations such as Canada, Japan, Australia and America are emitting the most air pollutants in the world and contribute in much emission of green house gases in the atmosphere. Developed nations use much of the natural resources until a near depletion occurs. Hover there are exceptions in that Germany, Sweden and Norway governments have worked with environment and they have benefited economically due to their environment sustainability (Pickering Owen, 213). Environmental degradation in the third world is exacerbated by international dumping of hazardous wastes and environmental imperialism. Third world countries do not have many choices to choose from and their environment is partly degraded by developed countries. These acts of the developed nations of cleaning their backyard and then transporting their hazardous wastes to the third world countries as well as forbidding the developed countries to develop violates the principles of sustainable environment. First world countries degrade the environment because they consume more of the natural resources (Pickering Owen, 213). Environmental issues of china and Latin America In china there is a growing concern of the ever increasing desertification on the northern and western side of the country. Desertification is being exacerbated by climate change in china and result from excessive industrialization on the fragile ecosystems and poor land management (Rajan, 321). The unrestrained industrialization and development that is taking place throughout the country is making china to be vulnerable to the growing changes of climate due to the increased levels of green house gas emissions in the atmosphere. For example extreme ecological events melting of glaciers and rising temperatures are now common in china besides desertification. These phenomena have detrimental effects on human health and the fragile ecosystems (Rajan, 328). Desertification engulfs the ecosystems with sand and reduces the available arable land thus creates eco- refugees. Shrinking glaciers on the other hand temporary raises the level of after in lakes and river and eventually disappears leaving an acute shortage of water. The economy of china is based mainly on coal for cheap energy and heavy industry that emits high levels of green house gases and thus accelerates global warming and climate change (Rajan, 321). However Chinese government is now using experimental means and artificial precipitation to alleviate the short term effects of the climate change. The government is also adopting stricter energy conservation legislation and increasing international cooperation to help fight the problem of climate change (Rajan, 3330). On the other hand the municipalities of china generate more than a hundred million tones of trash wastes per annum and currently the amount is rapidly rising. The existing land fills in china are reaching their capacity and therefore china will be required to build more land fills to satisfy the ever increasing amount of garbage accumulated. China will also be required to make up the poorly managed land fills (Rajan, 330). The problem of solid waste leakages from poorly managed land fills has rendered many hectares of land around the cities to be useless and therefore it is posing a great land constrains since china supports a big percentage of the world population and has a small percentage of the arable land. China is also facing human health and ecological threats from the Brownfield sites that are stemming from poorly managed landfills and from older landfills that do not have proper lining. There are problems of illegal dumping of industrial and municipal wastes that are exacerbating the situation. The incineration of waste in china is also emitting chemicals such as mercury, furans and dioxins which are harmful to the health of people globally (Rajan, 431). It is difficult to understate the environmental pollution of china on the pacific region of Asia and beyond. The prevailing wind often carries pollutants such as mercury particulate matters and ozone from one continent to another continent and in this case the pollutants are carried from Asia to North America. The overall trend of air pollution in china indicates a growing health and economic threats both within and outside china. The regional impact of air pollution in china has encouraged cooperation and new data on environmental, economic and human health implications of pollution of china on the north eastern side of Asia and western side of United States and Canada calls for global efforts to engage china in these issues (Rajan, 441). The majority of the regional trans-boundary air pollution in china originates from its heavy reliance on coal which constitutes about 70 percent of its global energy mix. Despite efforts to diversify the energy sources in china the country has continued to rely on coal and it seem it will continue to rely on the same for the fore seeable future. The dependence on coal and the lack of scrubbers and coal washing infrastructures at power plants and industrial facilities and its plan to build new coal powered stations translates to wide spread of environmental and health issues in pacific region of Asia and beyond. Car emission in china has replaced coal as the major source of air pollution in urban centers. Currently sixteen out of twenty most polluted sites are in china and therefore the emission will worsens the air quality in china. The current data shows that china has 22 cars per 1000 people compared to United States which has 764 cars per 1000 people however china is on its way of becoming the dominant market for automobiles. Due to WTO reduction the number of vehicle in china are expected to rise from the current 24 million to 100 million by the year 2020. In china there is a car culture that is developing similar to that was witnessed in 1940s in the United States. a prime example is the car driving clubs. There are many obstacles which face the policies for cleaner cars (Rajan, 450). On the other hand current industrial pollution in Latin America is a growing problem. Latin America is predominantly becoming an urban society and its environmental pollution issues are becoming important issues on the political agenda (Diaz West, 73). Mexico, Brazil and Argentina account for about four-fifth of manufacturing production in the region and hence constitute the bulk of industrial pollution in Latin America. Data for air pollution which have been obtained shows that concentrations of pollutant in the major cities are above World health organizations (WHO) guide lines for the air quality standards (Diaz West, 74). However it is only Sao Paulo whose data on air pollution falls within the quality standards provided by world health organization. Another element that is contributing to air pollution in Latin America is emissions from vehicles. There are also problems of water quality both to the regional rivers and coastal waters. For instance most watersheds in Mexico are strongly polluted (Diaz West, 76). The stretches of Paribas do Sul river of Rio de Janeiro and most of its tributaries are badly polluted as it is in Guanabara Bay. Due to lack of monitoring of pollution in Latin America it is difficult to obtain estimates of industrial effluents and emissions. Population growth in urban centers in Latin America has also caused slides deforestation and soil loss for agriculture in the peripheries of the urban centers (Hillstrom Hillstrom, 89).