China's dilemma (money vs passion)

Despite China's long suffering in the past, China has gone a long way and in a very short period of time, China's economic growth has spurted. China is now one of the largest traders in the world and has been successful given that China even had the opportunity to host the 2008 Summer Olympic in Beijing. However, in pursuit for a higher economic growth, China has became very much industrialized and many factories are being built in China. 

These factories give out harmful gases called greenhouse gases. They absorb heat from the Sun and trap it in our atmosphere, causing the Earth's temperature to increase slowly, otherwise known as global warming. Currently, China is one of the largest polluters in the world and is the 1st on carbon dioxide emissions, right in front of the United States. The daily average PSI (Pollutant Standards Index) is 100 and above and respiratory and heart diseases related to air pollution are the leading cause of death in China. Besides that, decades of waste poured from factories and cities into China's rivers have turned many of them into open sewers. About 40% of the water in the country's river systems has a quality index of 3 or worse, meaning that it is unfit for human consumption. 

These have brought me to a stand that China should focus on keeping its environment clean before pursuing a higher rate of economic growth. A higher economic growth is meant to help improve the lives' or the living standards of people. However, China's actions to help herself make more money is contradicting it's her purpose of doing so. By building more factories and becoming more industrialized, China is becoming very polluted and this causes the people of China to suffer. It is not making their lives any better than it already is. Because of the pollutants in the air, people have to wear masks everyday and they can hardly see anything that's in front of them. Peasant who live in the country sides will have a hard time finding a clean source of water for their crops and animals as they can no longer go to the river nearby for water as it is now polluted. 

In conclusion, China should stop pursuing for a higher economic growth and should start considering the cleanliness of their environment. Is it really worth it to sacrifice the beauty of our home planet for materialistic things like money?

Clarissa Lee :)