Beijing’s Pollution Problem
Beijing is the national capital of the People’s Republic of China and is a global leader in business. In 2013, China had the third largest gross domestic product at $13.39 trillion, behind the United States and the European Union (Central Intelligence Agency). Their economy continues to grow every year by more than seven percent. It’s estimated that Beijing has the second largest GDP per capita out of all the cities in China, who became the world’s number one exporter in 2010. China has become a place for companies to outsource their jobs to save money because they have one of the most developed and advanced infrastructures. Beijing is on the rise financially and it shall soon become a city of cross-continental significance (Beckel, 2001). With a strong capitalist society, Beijing has grown in population to approximately 21 million people, but these people are at risk because of substantial pollution. This pollution came from the Western model of growth Beijing used to expand, which mainly focused on economic activity mentioned previously. The rapid pace of economic growth in the Asia Pacific region has been accompanied by resource depletion and environmental degradation (Slone, 2014). The people of Beijing are suffering as a result of the mismatch in the growth model, due to two major factors: coal combustion in factories and automobile emissions.
Coal combustion in factories and power plants is a major contributor to the pollution in Beijing. The problem brings harm to human health, air and water quality, and agriculture (Gilal, 2014). In 2013, Coal pollution made up 16.7 percent of PM2.5, which is particulate matter smaller than 2.5 mm (Wertime, 2013). The Ministry of Environmental Protection found eleven coal fired power plants had incompliant desulphurization facilities. Desulphurization facilities are used to remove sulfur dioxide (SO2) from exhaust flue gases of fossil-fuel power plants. On February 15, 2015, Beijing had...