China is hungry for energy. From the 1970s to the end of 1990s, China had quadrupled its economy. With plans on quadrupling their economy yet again by 2020, China has been on the fast track of faster industrialization, leading to an unprecedented demand for energy. By the mid 1990s, China has turned into a petroleum exporter, to a petroleum importer. With record increases in oil, natural gas, and other energy related imports, there has been a substantial pressure on the global energy and resource markets, making energy security a national priority. As China has not built up substantial strategic reserves and being unable to satisfy their own energy needs, the reliance of an external energy supply has increased dramatically. As a result, China has turned to Latin America in search of new energy resources. China has become the world’s largest producer, consumer, and importer of coal, accounting for nearly half of the world’s coal consumption. In 2011, almost 70% of energy consumption with China has been produced through coal. From 2000 to 1012, coal consumption had doubled. With such high levels of coal consumption, China has been faced with devastating environmental and health damages. Cancer, more commonly lung cancer, is now the leading cause of death in Beijing. There has also been an increase in environmental damages with the increases in heavy manufacturing in mining, resulting in deserts spreading, farmlands drying out, and crop yields plateauing. Not only has this issue affect China, but has become a global economic security issue. “Global energy prices influence every corner of the world economy.” As of 2013, China’s oil consumption growth accounted for one-third of the world’ oil consumption growth, and it is projected t... ... middle of paper ... ...mminent. That China is trying to control Latin American oil, and take advantage of this developing region. The second thought it that this new rise of Chinese in the region is a positive, and can cause great economic and development potential. This is due to Latin America’s mindset of wanted to have great economic improvements like China, while reducing dependence from the United States. The third school of thought is that “China’s energy and related activities in Latin America, increasing as they have been in recent years, do not constitute a particular pattern of planned expansion in the region, that Latin America can only benefit from China’s presence. Going forward, “Latin American governments must consider how their long-term interests can be served by forging closer ties with China, while also keeping in mind the importance of their traditional U.S. market”.
In order to understand why China is in such environmental difficulties we need to understand why the lifestyles of people in Europe and the US could be to blame. The first area to consider is the environmental issues that China is currently suffering with. Once this is established I can assert what impact the US and Europe has in relation to these issues and what actually causes them. In linking the events it will be easier to see the chain of events. To do this I am going to work backwards and understand the issues that exist within China and then secondly what they are a result of. This will give me the background of why China’s environmental issues have become so dire.
In 2004, crude oil producers around the world expected a 1.5% growth in the world’s demand for crude oil. The actual growth rate was more than double the projections at 3.3%. This growth was due to rapidly industrializing of foreign countries such as, China and India. Therefore the lack of crude oil affected the supply of gasoline to consumers at the pump.
...of Latin America, both countries envisioned they would benefit greatly from this trade agreement. This conventional wisdom that the Chile-China free trade agreement would boost all sectors of investment and trade within both countries has partly been successful, while it has also proven to have slightly failed. Although there has been booming trade between both countries, Chile increasingly feels the pressure of Chinese market competition and furthermore both countries have lost out in the advancement of foreign direct investment. With Chile’s chief exports comprising natural resources, China has a more lasting market power simply from the fact that their primary export industry is not perishable. This conjures the question of to what extent will the Chile-China free trade agreement be impacted in the future if Chile’s does not invest in new export market materials.
Nothing speaks more to Latin America 's continued dependence on other nations than a new superpower looking for resource 's. China, much like the USSR of the past has turned to Latin America in search of an economic boost and legitimacy on the world stage. Jorge I. Domínguez writes ”China has disproportionate leverage over Latin America in trade negotiations”. For nations who have existed for almost as long as the USA why are they still so underdeveloped and dependent on the rest of the
America is dependent on other nations for their ability to create energy. The United States is the world’s largest consumer of oil at 18.49 million barrels of oil per day. And it will continue to be that way for the foreseeable future considering the next largest customer of oil only consumes about 60% of what the U.S. does. This makes the U.S. vulnerable to any instability that may arise in the energy industry. In 2011, the world’s top three oil companies were Saudi Aramco (12%), National Iranian Oil Company (5%), and China National Petroleum Corp (4%). The risk associated with these countries being the top oil producers is twofold. One, they are located half way around the world making it an expensive to transport the product logistically to a desired destination. And two, the U.S. has weak, if not contentious,...
In 2007-2008 ;China became the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases. In 2010 China became the world's biggest energy consumer” (Seligsohn, 2015) As Seligsohn
Indeed, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) predicts that domestic petroleum consumption will increase to 60 Btu by the year 2025. This statistic, in and of itself, is a matter of concern with respect to the greenhouse gas emissions that result from petroleum combustion. However, perhaps more disconcerting is the fact that U.S. oil production peaked in 1970 and has continued to fall since then (Campbell et. al., 1998). Therefore, the American public has turned to foreign oil, in particular Middle Eastern oil, to supplement its increase in demand. In an age where terrorism is at the forefront of people's minds, we still continue to import oil from the same nations that supposedly harbor so-called terrorist groups. The fact is that we are unwilling to responsibly face our energy future and instead choose to maintain a policy of increasing oil supply through importation.
In 1970 oil reserves became more scarce, leading to a decrease in production, while consumption continued to grow rapidly (Wright, R. T., & Boorse, D. F. 2011). In order to fill the gap between rising demand and falling supply of oil, the United States became more and more dependent on imported oil, primarily from Arab countries in the Middle East. (Wright, R. T., & Boorse, D. F. 2011). As the U.S and many other countries became highly industrialized nations, they became even more dependent on oil imports. With demand being higher than the actual amount of supply, prices kept rising reaching a peak of $140 a barrel in 2008. (Wright, R. T., & Boorse, D. F. 2011).
China has approximately 20% of the world’s population, which is around 1.3 billion people (Morris, 2009, p. 111). Also, China has become one of the worlds biggest manufacturing countries within 30 years (Fawssett, 2009, p. 27). However, such rapid development has come at a cost, which has created various environmental problems. Coincidentally, China has 16 cities on a list of the 20 worst polluted cities in the world (Fawssett, 2009, p. 15). Therefore, this essay will explain the reasons for China’s environmental problems, then evaluate the claim that the Chinese government and people, are tackling these environmental problems. First, crop farming techniques over the last hundred years, and their consequences will be explained. Followed by, how peoples choice in food has changed over the last hundred years, and how this indirectly affects the environment. Then, how a capitalist economy is linked to agriculture, and finally what the Chinese government and people are doing to tackle these problems.
The natural resource that I am writing this paper on is coal. Coal is a cheap, dirty fossil fuel which we burn to create power. Coal is the most abundant in North America and in Russia, including the area around it. China also has a fairly good amount of coal in it too. Coal, like all of the other fossil fuels is nonrenewable and will eventually run out, in the not so near future. Coal is very important to many of the countries of the world. The countries that use the most coal are China, the United States, India, Russia, and Japan. These five countries “account for 76% of total global coal use.” (World Coal Association, 2014).
According to the US Environmental Protection Agency, over half of the oil used in the USA is imported. Most of this imported oil is located in the middle east and is controlled by OPEC members. Subsequent oil price shocks and price manipulation by OPEC have cost our economy dearly—about $1.9 trillion from 2004 to 2008—and each major shock was followed by a recession (Reduce). We may never be able to fully eliminate our need to import oil, but we can reduce cartel market control and the economic impact of price shocks by reducing our demand (Reduce). One way we can reduce our reliance on oil is through investing in renewable energy. Solar power, wind power, and hydro power are all forms of energy which come from renewable resources. Unlike oil, solar, wind and hydro electric power is abundant and can be obtained locally.
China is one of the main viable candidates as this century’s new world power. Today, it maintains a strong economic stance within the international market, and is expanding at a rapid pace. The United States cannot maintain its position as hegemon for the rest of humanity; just as how ...
Countries such as China and Japan need to enforce more powerful regulations on the amount of carbon emissions that they produce. China put in regulations just this last year and Japan postponed plans for a national regulations on carbon emissions, bowing to powerful business groups that warned of job losses as they compete against overseas rivals facing fewer emissions regulations. It’s not a good sign that large corporations can control how a nation regulates its environmental safety laws. China is finally planning to regulate their carbon emissions. This is long over due concerting that China ranks as the world’s number one carbon dioxide emitter, thanks in part to the massive amounts of coal the country burns. China currently builds a new coal-fired power plant at a rate of about one every week to ten days. The country’s coal burning levels are nearly on par with the rest of the world combined.
Fuels like coal, and oil that once were a fine innovation in creating energy are now rapidly deleting and one day will be gone forever; energy that won’t last is often referred to as non-renewable energy. Besides being set up to fail and become inefficient in the future, fossil fuel energy is not clean to use and poses several environmental complications. Coal, for instance is “the dirtiest of all fossil fuels. Coal combustion not only produces sulfur oxides and nitrogen oxides that contribute to acid rain and snow, it generates millions of tons of particulates that cause asthma and other respiratory diseases.” As with all usage of fossil fuels, it creates enormous amounts of carbon dioxide, which contributes to greenhouse gas. Not only are fossil fuels dirty, they also pose as a security risk and unforgiving on the American wallet. (Saini)
The world that we live into today affords us the expectation that the flip a switch will turn the lights on. As populations increase and developing nations undergo dramatic economic growth, this energy demand will only continue to grow. The International Energy Agency (IEA) believes that “the world’s energy needs could be 50% higher in 2030 than they are today” (ElBaradei). Given this projected growth, it is necessary for world leaders must take action to secure the energy supply. Meaning that world leaders need to start seriously considering an alternative to non-renewable energy sources. “In 2012, the United States generated about 4,054 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity. About 68% of the electricity generated was from fossil fuel (coal, natural gas, and petroleum), with 37% attributed from coal” (U.S. Energy Information Administration). The fossil fuels that are used to supply over half of our country’s energy are in finite supply and are increasing in price to astronomical heights.