Whitepaper

White Paper: China

A6pam

28 April 2019

[Institutional Affiliation(s)]

Author Note

White Paper: China

Over the years, regional climate underwent various changes due to human society. During the course of the 20th century, Human population rose from 1.6 billion to 6.1 billion and during this time the emission of leading greenhouse gas, i.e. CO2 grew 12 fold (Earthtalk, 2018). The rise in population means that more people need air, water and natural resources to survive and these people will overlook the outcomes of climate change, while it has resulted in rising of sea levels, and has caused destruction of Earth’s civilization. Changing environment impacts the survival of mankind in an adverse way.

Greenhouse gases heat up the entire planet and kelp beds that are reducing coastline areas at a sharp rate. A growing population is somehow responsible for the emission of greenhouse gases. In 1950, emission of CO2 was 6 billion metric tons when the world’s population was 2.5 billion and when it increased to 7.6 billion, carbon emission increased six-fold. China, an agrarian population shifted to an industrialized one, and it became the largest emitter of carbon-emitting 10 billion tons yearly (Gitlitz, 2018). China’s emission exceeded the combined carbon emission of the EU and the US (Rapier, 2018). According to predictions, World’s population will surpass over nine billion and the environmentalists are worried about the wreaking havoc ecosystem will have to face.

Most of the developed nations are contributing to this situation, for instance, the US contributes a quarter of CO2 emission, and despite the decline in population growth, this emission rate is rising. Fastest developing nations such as India and China will add up to half of the global emission by the year 2050, making another wonder that the efforts to control the carbon emission by the US will be useless by these developing countries (Earthtalk, 2018). Since human uses fossil fuels to back up their sophisticated lifestyles, they have a major role in global warming. More people mean more demand for resources and the resources under the earth’s surface will deplete emitting CO2 into the atmosphere (Earthtalk, 2018).

Majority of human activities are to be blamed for the increasing greenhouse gases. Overhunting kills the individual members of the species and results in the fragmentation of habitat. Local extinctions result in the reduction of biodiversity and it weakens ecosystems which eventually results in more extinctions (Tariach, 2018). The highest population of China, becoming richer every day increases carbon emission and its average emission per person has surpassed the European Union average (Rapier, 2018).

According to IPCC, access to contraception can reduce the carbon emission by 30% by 2100, not only in the poor countries but also in the developed nations such as the US, where per capita emission is high (Gitlitz, 2018). According to many experts educating women about birth control and providing them with the basic rights of education and health will result in limited family size (Earthtalk, 2018). However, if every nation fulfils the plagues made at the Paris conference, it will only reduce the global temperate by 3.5 degrees Celsius which is not enough for safety (McKibben, 2018). China also claimed that it will reduce the carbon emission by 65% by the year 2030, but the hope was that the Paris agreement will help in the transition to alternative sources of energy and nations will be inclined towards using solar panels, it would be cheaper than expectations. It is not possible to save an ecosystem without stabilizing population and climate. It is the high time to recognize the need of teaching the world about the ways to run a healthy economy, with a smaller population and helped us understand the significance of reducing the population in addressing climate change.

References

BIBLIOGRAPHY Earthtalk. (2018). Does Population Growth Impact Climate Change? Retrieved April 28, 2019, from Scientific American: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/population-growth-climate-change/

Gitlitz, G. (2018, June 19). Opinion: The pernicious climate dictum – don’t mention population. Retrieved April 28, 2019, from Berkeleyside: https://www.berkeleyside.com/2018/06/19/opinion-the-pernicious-climate-dictum-dont-mention-population

McKibben, B. (2018, November 22). A Very Grim Forecast. Retrieved from NY Books: https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2018/11/22/global-warming-very-grim-forecast/

Rapier, R. (2018, July 1). China Emits More Carbon Dioxide Than The U.S. and EU Combined. Retrieved April 28, 2019, from Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/rrapier/2018/07/01/china-emits-more-carbon-dioxide-than-the-u-s-and-eu-combined/#3dfbc335628c

Tariach, G. (2018, July 19). Mass Extinctions. Retrieved April 28, 2019, from Discover: http://discovermagazine.com/2018/jul-aug/mass-extinctions