Essay draft 2

Is Globalisation responsible for the collapse of diversity?

Goldin (2009) pointed out in his TED talk that collapse in biodiversity, climate change, financial crisis and inequality are some problems caused by globalisation.

Today, as compared to a few decades ago, we have witnessed the collapse of biodiversity becoming more evident. According to the Millenium Ecosystem Assessment (March, 2005), there is substantial and largely irreversible loss in the diversity of life on Earth, with 10-30% of the mammal, bird and amphibian species threatened with extinction due to human actions. One cause that is heavily tied to this problem is the rapid globalisation in the world. Globalisation brings about further development of human activities which includes the increase in industrial areas being built. Therefore, I agree that globalisation has led to the collapse of diversity through human activities. However, mankind has been aware of this problem and are doing their best to alleviate this problem. Governments worldwide were committed to the Millennium Development Goals of ensuring environmental sustainability by achieving a significant reduction in the rate of biodiversity loss at the global, regional and national level.

Due to industrialisation, pollution has become one of the greatest threats to global biodiversity. This is particularly observed in ShangHai, China. Since 1970s, ShangHai has been experiencing rapid expansion and urbanization. This was due to the low cost of production in ShangHai, which works as an incentive for many foreigners to set up their companies there. Many job opportunities were given to the Chinese local and more knowledge and skills could be acquired from the foreign companies. As a result of its rapid expansion, ShangHai is also known for its bad pollution. From 1991 to 2010, industrial waste gas emission has been increasing at 43.1 billion cubic metres annually (Cui and Shi, 2012). Besides human beings, marine animals and plants are also vulnerable to air pollution. There were researchers who concluded that China's plants and food crops are affected by toxic air (Discovery News, 2012). With all these ongoing problems, China has implemented several solutions to reduce the loss of biodiversity due to industrialisation.

The first solution is to cut down dependence on coal. According to Environment News Network (2013), the construction of new coal-fired plants is prohibited and replaced by 18 synthetic natural gas (SNG) plants. Reducing the number of coal-fired plants can reduce air pollution since burning of coal contributes to harmful air particulates. However, this is a short-term solution. Moreover, although SNG can help to reduce particulate air pollution, the process of mining coal and converting it to natural gas can yield 36 percent to 82 percent more greenhouse gas emissions than burning coal directly (Environment News Network, 2013). Shutting down the coal-fired plants is also not sufficient to mitigate this pollution problem because emission from vehicles, shipyards and aircrafts also contributes to air pollution in Shanghai especially after Shanghai became an international transport hub.

A second solution was implemented by Hanergy, the largest non-state-owned enterprise of clean energy power generation in China, which focuses on hydropower and solar power as alternatives (The Chinese Dream, n.d.). The ShangHai Tower, upon completion in 2014, will serve to reduce energy usage as wind turbines are built at the top of the tower and electricity generated will run the exterior light. We can see that with clean energy power generation, industries have alternative sources to run the plants instead of using coal. Less coal will be burnt, giving rise to a cleaner Shanghai. However, there are limitations to this implementation. Other sources of energy like hydropower and solar power requires much capital to operate. It also takes a long time to start these operations, which is not effective to solve the imminent air pollution problem in Shanghai.

The loss of biodiversity in China is largely attributed to air and water pollution. The Chinese government has been targeting the root of the problem by controlling air pollution. However, air pollution still exists today and this means that the loss of biodiversity is still not controlled. On top of solving the root of the problem, the Chinese can also preserve some of the rare plant species by planting them indoors, but continue to provide the same living conditions needed. With less exposure to toxic air, the plants will be healthier. Preventing the loss of biodiversity requires time and many solutions.

In conclusion, globalisation drives rapid expansion and industrialisation in China, sacrificing biodiversity at the same time. However, efforts have been made by mankind over the years to solve this issue. Unfortunately, loss of biodiversity due to air pollution is happening at a faster rate than our actions to deal with the problems. Although it is really hard to stop the loss of biodiversity, we can still try to slow down the pace of losing them.

(797 words)

References

Biodiversity.sg (2014).  Anthropic Impacts And Biodiversity. Retrieved from http://www.biodiversity.sg/biodiversity-information/view-slideshow/anthropic-impacts-and-biodiversity/pollution-and-biodiversity/

Discovery News (2013). China’s Urban Air Kills Rural Plants. Retrieved from: http://news.discovery.com/earth/plants/china-urban-air-kills-rurual-plants-130118.htm

Environmental News Network (2013). China’s Solution for Combating Air Pollution? Convert Coal to Synthetic Natural Gas. Retrieved from: http://www.enn.com/environmental_policy/article/46681

Global issues (2014). Loss of Biodiversity and Extinctions. Retrieved from http://www.globalissues.org/article/171/loss-of-biodiversity-and-extinctions#OtherRelatedGlobalIssuesandCauses

Global times (2013). Shanghai publishes clean air action plan. Retrieved from:  http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/818788.shtml#.UxiaCPmSxps

Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT (2014). Mission 2015: Biodiversity. Retrieved from http://web.mit.edu/12.000/www/m2015/2015/solutions_for_industrial_pollution.html

The Chinese Dream (n.d.). Pollution. Retrieved from: http://china2012.bizjournalism.org/?page_id=229

Cui and Shi (25 October 2012). Urbanisation and its environmental effects in Shanghai, China. Elsevier. Retrieved from

http://www.iufn.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Cui-2012-Urbanization-and-its-environmental-effects-in-Shanghai.pdf