Global warming and climate change are profoundly affecting the world environment, human health and global economic sustainability. As the climate warms, the rate of species extinction will continue to increase. And those endangered species that are already under the pressure of pollution and predatory development and broken ecosystems will be more difficult to meet the challenges of climate change.
The impact of climate change is comprehensive, with both positive and negative impacts, but negative impacts are of more concern. Global warming has already affected my home country, China. The warming of the climate has resulted in less precipitation in northern China. Severe water shortages are difficult to solve, and the frequency and intensity of droughts are also increasing. This will lead to grassland soil erosion, which will increase the trend of desertification where encroaching desserts ruin farmland and villages that no longer become inhabitable.
Global warming has caused the thermal expansion of oceans and melting of glaciers, causing sea levels to rise. A variety of coastal disasters will be intensified, such as flooding a large number of tidal flat resources causing saltwater intrusion in coastal lowlands and estuaries. Tide water will also cause land flooding, hinder sewage discharge, and expand coastal and beach erosion. In particular, it will increase the danger of storm surge. For example, under the condition of a 50cm (19.685 inches) rise in sea level, the Yangtze River estuary, which runs for 3,900 miles from the Tibetan Plateau to the estuary of the East China Sea near Shanghai, is the largest estuary in China with a large tidal range. The current storm surge that usually happens once in 100 years will now happen once in 50 years. At the Pearl River Estuary, it is now 50 years. What happens when the storm surge comes once every 10 years? If we consider the increase in the frequency of typhoons in the future, storm surge disasters will become more serious and life threatening.
Agriculture is one of the sectors most sensitive to climate change. China is a big agricultural country, and climate change will make China’s future agricultural production face three outstanding problems. The instability of agricultural production will increase and the output will fluctuates greatly. According to estimates, the overall output of my country’s planting industry may be reduced by about 5%-10% due to global warming. The three major crops of wheat, rice and corn will have reduced output. The layout and structure of agricultural production will change because climate warming will cause major changes in China’s crop planting system. When agricultural production conditions change, agricultural costs will increase substantially. After the climate warms, the microbial decomposition of soil organic matter will accelerate leading to a decline in soil fertility and an increase in pests and diseases. The demand for fertilizer and pesticide application in agriculture will increase.
Climate change has changed my life a lot. When I was a child, I remember that I needed to wear a lot of clothes to keep warm in winter. But as I grew up, I felt that the winter is not as cold as before. Because of the effect of warming, cold winters are not as long as before. In addition, the hot temperature in summer is also hotter than before. Now, when it’s summer, my sweat quickly soaks my clothes. This affects my mood and makes me hate going out in the summer. At the same time, in the summer I need to turn on the air conditioner frequently, especially at night when it’s hot and difficult for me to sleep. This causes me to pay more electricity bills in summer.
Mckenna, Phil.” Global Warming Is Worsening China’s Pollution Problems, Studies Show” Insideclimatenews, 14 August 2019, insideclimatenews.org/news/14082019/climate-change-china-pollution-smog-soot-jet-stream-global-warming
Kan, Haidong.” Climate Change and Human Health in China” Ncbi, Environ Health Perspect, Feb 2011, ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3040620/
Lai, Elisa Chih-Yin.”Climate Change Impacts on China’s Environment: Biophysical Impacts” Wilsoncenter, China environment forum, February 2009, wilsoncenter.org/publication/climate-change-impacts-chinas-environment-biophysical-impacts
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As a Chinese overseas, I am also deeply concerned about the negative impact of Climate Change on China. With the rise of China and the improvement of people’s quality of life. The number of motor vehicles and factories has increased significantly in recent years. However, china’s environmental protection laws are lagging behind Europe and the United States this problem made China’s pollution problem increasingly serious.
I believe many people know that COVID-19 has brought a catastrophic blow to, China But perhaps few people know that Climate Change also caused huge losses of life and property to China in 2020. Climate Change causes a surge in rainfall in China in the summer of 2020. Unexpectedly, compared to the rainy season that would end in one month in previous years, the heavy rainfall of this year has lasted for three months. This has directly led to flash floods in many provinces, waterlogging in urban areas, and flooding. The water level of more than 700 rivers exceeded the warning level and 70% of counties and cities experienced heavy rains. This has become the most serious flood situation in China since 1998. This resulted in 219 deaths and missing, 63.46 million people were affected by the disaster, more than 54,000 houses collapsed and caused 178.96 billion yuan in property damage. Compared with the serious damage caused by the flood, the heatwave seems to have not received the attention of most people. The invention of the air conditioner allows us to temporarily get rid of the hot summer and thanks to the air conditioner most people were able to escape the heatwave in our city. But air-conditioning also makes people walk in an endless loop which is the air-conditioning power supply will overload the grid and increase emissions that cause climate change. And climate change will cost hotter summer and people will rely on more on-air conditioning. According to the report “by 2050, the greenhouse gas emissions from coal and natural gas power plants that supply air conditioners will nearly double, from 1.25 billion tons in 2016 to 2.28 billion tons. These emissions will cause global warming and may further increase the demand for air-conditioning.” In China’s big cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen, the temperature in summer is very high, and the attacks of heat waves on big cities are becoming more and more normal. The heatwave has caused a huge threat to the health of the elderly and children. According to statistics, the attendance rate of ambulances at the Shanghai Emergency Center in summer evenings has increased significantly compared to other times.
It is clear Climate Change has cost very negative impacts on china. If we cannot contain this problem, the consequences will be catastrophic. The Chinese government should pay more attention to sustainable development instead of blindly developing the economy. According to the New York Times Chinese website: “Environmental inspectors found in northern China that nearly 14,000 companies, or 70% of the inspected companies, did not meet air pollution control standards.” It is clear that from both legislation and law enforcement on environmental protection are loss and lack of execution. Obviously, our current Environmental Protection Law is outdated for the increasingly serious Climate Change and air pollution. As the initiator of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), we need to do better and there is huge space for the Chinese Government to make improvements.
Citation:
Deutsche Welle. 2019. Send away the plague god to usher in air pollution. [online] Available at: [Accessed 6 February 2021].
Paul Brown. As the climate warms, the floods become more serious. [online] Available at:
[Accessed 6 February 2021].
Anwei Huang. Nearly 14,000 companies in northern China fail to meet air pollution control standards. [online] Available at:
[Accessed 6 February 2021].
Link:
https://archive.epa.gov/climatechange/kids/impacts/signs/precip-patterns.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pollution_in_China