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Greener Options for Beijing

Simone LewisStudent’s name

GEO/215Course

February 8, 2016Due date

Muriel YeboahProfessor

Introduction

Beijing city is one of the largest cities as well as being the capital city of the People’s Republic of China located in the northern part of the country. The city borders the Hebei province to the North, West, South, and part of the east. It also borders the Tianjin Municipality to the Southeast (Monk, 2015). The estimated mean elevation of the city is at 143 feet above the sea level, and it covers an approximated area of 6, 487 square miles. Additionally, the city climate is categorized as being humid continental characterized with hot, humid summers as well as extremely cold, dry winters (Gong, 2015).

From the fast growth of the city, there has been a rapid growth in the introduction of many cars into the city as well as the surrounding cities and provinces thus making it have very low air quality (Gong, 2015). As a result of high pollution standards in the city, all types of polluting cars have been banned in the city. The decline in the quality of air in the city has also been contributed to by seasonal dust storms that have emerged to the nation's northern as well as northwestern deserts as a result of pollution (Monk, 2015).

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Fig 1, Beijing city location

The global warming projections for Beijing

As a result of being of the leading cities in the emission of greenhouse gases in the world, Beijing has been faced with many challenges that are related to problems of global warming and climate change. As the trend continues in the city, there is a high possibility of increases extreme weather patterns that will include an increase in the rate of flooding in some regions as well as increased drought occurrences at other parts (Gong, 2015). Global warming will also lead to further deterioration of the quality of air in the city that happens to be a major problem currently.

In the near future, an increase in typhoons is expected to act upon the city’s floodwalls. As such, right strategies need to be developed in the city to handle these issues in the future. The only sure way to reduce the impacts of global warming in Beijing will be by cleaning its air through green energy sources like wind and solar energy (Monk, 2015). These practices will lead to an improvement in the quality of air in the city.

How climate has shaped Beijing

From the changes in climate that have happened in the city, many adjustments have equally happened. As a result of the change, the type of buildings developed in the city has changed over time to accommodate the environmental hazards that have been developing as a result of climate change (Monk, 2015). Again, the climate of the areas surrounding Beijing has changed the way in which food production in the area is done leading to a complete change in the landscape (Wang, He, Li & Fu, 2005). However, the biggest impact of Beijing’s climate has been experienced in the city’s infrastructure. As time progresses and the climate continues to change, more changes are expected on the land as key land uses of the available land changes to cope with the changes (Gong, 2015). People will move from the polluted regions to those areas that are more accommodating and habitable as a result of climate change.

The needs and services of Beijing

One of the key needs of Beijing is that of clean and unpolluted air that has developed from the increase in the number of vehicles in the city. Again, massive industrial operations in the city have also contributed to the increase in the amount of greenhouse gases in the air. Increased dust storms have also contributed significantly towards the decline in the air quality experienced in the city (Monk, 2015). From these effects, the town is in urgent need of changes that will lead to the improvement in the quality of air in and around it. Strategies need to be carried out that will lead to a decline in the number of vehicles using fossil fuels in the city as well as making sure that air pollution from industries is greatly looked at in the city (Wang, He, Li & Fu, 2005). Additionally, strategies that will improve the health of the employees by reducing the number of respiratory disease cases are needed.

Currently, the city has banned the entry of all polluting vehicles in the city, and this happens to be a sustainable way of controlling the rate of pollution in the city leading to a reduction in the amount of greenhouse gases emitted in the city (Monk, 2015). Again, pushing for the shutdown of the core fired companies and replacing them with natural gas-fueled companies is greatly sustainable in the process of ensuring less air pollution and greenhouse gas emission to its environments.

Greener options

For purposes of ensuring less or zero air pollution, the city needs to come up with green energy sources as well as clean waters for the cities needs. One of the ways of ensuring a clean source of energy is by embracing the use of solar and wind energy sources in the city and replace the coal driven power plants (Gong, 2015). Replacing the existing sources will reduce the quantity of pollutants emitted to the environment leading to the purification air quality in the city. Again, treating the industrial liquid effluents before releasing them to the waters will lead to an improvement in the quality of water available for the people in the city that will lead to improved health status of the residents (Monk, 2015). To incorporate these changes, the city needs to close all the existing polluting firms and energy sources and replace them with the greener energy sources. Coming up with policies that will regulate both air and water pollution will also help in introducing these changes as old and inefficient productions methods will be eliminated leaving the greener and sustainable means (Gong, 2015).

Conclusion

Beijing is one of the cities being faced with high pollution rates in the world. As such, greener energy sources need to be developed for purposes of reducing the amount of pollution that happens in the environment. The greener energy sources presented in this paper are practical in that; they will reduce greenhouse gas quantities released to the atmosphere significantly, and this will reduce the amount of pollution and the likelihood of environmental disasters in the future. Using these sources will also reduce the amount of respiratory disease infections in the region as the air will be cleared with time. Therefore, it would be very efficient and sustainable if the city and its environs adopt solar, wind energy sources, and close all the coal-fired companies to reduce the rate of pollution in the city. These green options will lead to an improvement in the quality of air in the city, and the health of the residents will also improve significantly as these options are adopted.

References

Gong, Z. (2015). Pollution: Clear blue skies over Beijing. Nature, 517(7533), 145-145. http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/517145c

Monk, L. (2015). Beijing: A City in Search of Its Destiny. The Geography Teacher, 12(2), 53-62. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/19338341.2015.1079546

Wang, Q., He, K., Li, T., & Fu, L. (2005). Strategies for controlling pollution from vehicular

emissions in Beijing. International Journal Of Environmental Technology And Management, 5(1), 87. http://dx.doi.org/10.1504/ijetm.2005.006509

Comments

You’ve made a good attempt to write on the urban analysis, global warming and green options of Beijing China

You provide a map but it just shows the location of Beijing but not the topography

The paper discusses most of the topics in the assignment.

Your organization is good as it is APA formatted. Except that you need to start your list of references on a new page

19.8 points.