final projecto: climate change in China
Why the world is getting warmer and warmer? As the professor Hans Joachim Schellnhuber said in the video, because of the CO2, our climate system changes. In the modern society, the industry revolution contributed so much to the increase of emission of greenhouse. According to the IPCC, the planet is warming and it is due to the human interference which is the dominant reason.
As we can see from the graph, obviously the annual mean temperature of China is getting higher and higher, around 5 decades. Now, in this article, I’d like to talk about the climate change and the influence of it on agriculture, on human health.
Based on the class, we know that the The Fourth Assessment Report (AR4) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) found that the rise in global mean temperature and warming of the climate system were “unequivocal.” Furthermore, “most of the observed increase in global average temperature since the mid-20th century is very likely due to the observed increase in anthropogenic greenhouse gas concentrations” (Solomon, Miller et al. 2007). Along with the rising global mean temperature, the sea level rises at the same time. With the data of IPCC, sea level rose about 20cm from preindustrial times to 2009, and now are rising at approximately 3.2 cm per decade (World Bank 2012:7).
What is the situation in China?
For coastal area of China, in the context of global climate change, nearly 30 years, the climate is getting warmer and warmer, the sea level tends to rise obviously. Compared to the 1990s and 1980s, the mean temperature of the latest 1 decade has risen by 0.4 ℃ and 0.2 ℃ respectively. We can find the following information on the site of China Oceanic Information Network that, when comes to the Bohai Sea, the Yellow Sea and East Sea, the temperature of which was 0.8 ℃ higher over the same period all the year round in Feb. 2010.
From last year, we have suffered severe haze in many parts of China, like Beijing, Xi’an, Zhengzhou and so on. It’s reported that many foreigner have planned to leave for their countries instead of staying in China breathing the terrible air every day. We citizens have been complaining about the bad weather without a stop. But the situation doesn’t change. What is the cause of the haze? Haze is traditionally an atmospheric phenomenon where dust, smoke and other dry particles obscure the clarity of the sky. Haze often occurs when dust and smoke particles accumulate in relatively dry air. When weather conditions block the dispersal of smoke and other pollutants they concentrate and form a usually low-hanging shroud that impairs visibility and may become a respiratory health threat. Industrial pollution can result in dense haze, which is known as smog. One important reason is the high concentration of the aerosol, that helps to formation the haze. Let’s now take Beijing for example,
At 8 p.m. 16 the Feb., the air quality index (AQI) at monitoring stations in the city's downtown areas read between 342 and 414 and was rated at Level 6, the highest level, indicating hazardous pollution, according to the Beijing Municipal Environmental Monitoring Center's website. Beijing is not the only region facing the suffocating air on Sunday. The National Meteorological Center issued a yellow alert at 6 a.m. Sunday, forecasting medium to serious haze in Beijing and nearby Tianjin Municipality and the provinces of Hebei, Shandong, Henan, Shanxi, and Shaanxi. It said smog would last until late Sunday, when a fresh wave of rain and snow would hit most of the country. The quality of air we breathe is getting worse and worse. Due to the haze and emission of green house, the rain and snow these years is less and less, which contributes to the aridity. As we all know, particulate matter itself contains a variety of harmful substances, and it is also the carrier of pollutants, so the harm to human body is various, like causing chronic bronchitis, emphysema, bronchial asthma and other diseases, causing the loss of the body's immune function.
Besides haze, I’d like to say something about drought. It’s reported that since late June of 2013, most regions of south side area of the Yangtze river suffered bad weather like a rare continuous high temperature and less rainfall, and range and duration is wide and long, which is abnormal in the history. The extreme maximum temperature and mean temperature measured by the some meteorological stations of Jiangnan and north of Southern China were more than the the highest record in the history, and more than 38 ° C hot weather days in southern area for the most recent 50 years, and continuously hot summer weather exceeding 40° C. As to the extreme weather, the agriculture was badly affected, especially cotton, crop, tea and some vegetables, leading to a substantial increase in relevant prices. When it comes to Hunan, the most affected region, the vegetable prices have risen by as much as 20% to 30%.
Now what can we do to prevent it? According to the news, a statement released after an executive meeting of the State Council held on 12th of February has urged reduction of PM2.5 and other pollutants in smoggy cities as the key task in the fight against air pollution. The statement noted that overall consumption of coal should be controlled, calling for more efforts to promote high quality gasoline for vehicles, energy saving in construction and the use of environmentally friendly boilers. It revealed that 10 billion RMB (1.64 billion U.S. dollars) has been allocated this year as rewards for key cities and regions who make significant progress in air pollution control.
As we can see from the graph, obviously the annual mean temperature of China is getting higher and higher, around 5 decades. Now, in this article, I’d like to talk about the climate change and the influence of it on agriculture, on human health.
Based on the class, we know that the The Fourth Assessment Report (AR4) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) found that the rise in global mean temperature and warming of the climate system were “unequivocal.” Furthermore, “most of the observed increase in global average temperature since the mid-20th century is very likely due to the observed increase in anthropogenic greenhouse gas concentrations” (Solomon, Miller et al. 2007). Along with the rising global mean temperature, the sea level rises at the same time. With the data of IPCC, sea level rose about 20cm from preindustrial times to 2009, and now are rising at approximately 3.2 cm per decade (World Bank 2012:7).
What is the situation in China?
For coastal area of China, in the context of global climate change, nearly 30 years, the climate is getting warmer and warmer, the sea level tends to rise obviously. Compared to the 1990s and 1980s, the mean temperature of the latest 1 decade has risen by 0.4 ℃ and 0.2 ℃ respectively. We can find the following information on the site of China Oceanic Information Network that, when comes to the Bohai Sea, the Yellow Sea and East Sea, the temperature of which was 0.8 ℃ higher over the same period all the year round in Feb. 2010.
From last year, we have suffered severe haze in many parts of China, like Beijing, Xi’an, Zhengzhou and so on. It’s reported that many foreigner have planned to leave for their countries instead of staying in China breathing the terrible air every day. We citizens have been complaining about the bad weather without a stop. But the situation doesn’t change. What is the cause of the haze? Haze is traditionally an atmospheric phenomenon where dust, smoke and other dry particles obscure the clarity of the sky. Haze often occurs when dust and smoke particles accumulate in relatively dry air. When weather conditions block the dispersal of smoke and other pollutants they concentrate and form a usually low-hanging shroud that impairs visibility and may become a respiratory health threat. Industrial pollution can result in dense haze, which is known as smog. One important reason is the high concentration of the aerosol, that helps to formation the haze. Let’s now take Beijing for example,
At 8 p.m. 16 the Feb., the air quality index (AQI) at monitoring stations in the city's downtown areas read between 342 and 414 and was rated at Level 6, the highest level, indicating hazardous pollution, according to the Beijing Municipal Environmental Monitoring Center's website. Beijing is not the only region facing the suffocating air on Sunday. The National Meteorological Center issued a yellow alert at 6 a.m. Sunday, forecasting medium to serious haze in Beijing and nearby Tianjin Municipality and the provinces of Hebei, Shandong, Henan, Shanxi, and Shaanxi. It said smog would last until late Sunday, when a fresh wave of rain and snow would hit most of the country. The quality of air we breathe is getting worse and worse. Due to the haze and emission of green house, the rain and snow these years is less and less, which contributes to the aridity. As we all know, particulate matter itself contains a variety of harmful substances, and it is also the carrier of pollutants, so the harm to human body is various, like causing chronic bronchitis, emphysema, bronchial asthma and other diseases, causing the loss of the body's immune function.
Besides haze, I’d like to say something about drought. It’s reported that since late June of 2013, most regions of south side area of the Yangtze river suffered bad weather like a rare continuous high temperature and less rainfall, and range and duration is wide and long, which is abnormal in the history. The extreme maximum temperature and mean temperature measured by the some meteorological stations of Jiangnan and north of Southern China were more than the the highest record in the history, and more than 38 ° C hot weather days in southern area for the most recent 50 years, and continuously hot summer weather exceeding 40° C. As to the extreme weather, the agriculture was badly affected, especially cotton, crop, tea and some vegetables, leading to a substantial increase in relevant prices. When it comes to Hunan, the most affected region, the vegetable prices have risen by as much as 20% to 30%.
Now what can we do to prevent it? According to the news, a statement released after an executive meeting of the State Council held on 12th of February has urged reduction of PM2.5 and other pollutants in smoggy cities as the key task in the fight against air pollution. The statement noted that overall consumption of coal should be controlled, calling for more efforts to promote high quality gasoline for vehicles, energy saving in construction and the use of environmentally friendly boilers. It revealed that 10 billion RMB (1.64 billion U.S. dollars) has been allocated this year as rewards for key cities and regions who make significant progress in air pollution control.