Traditionally, environmental management has been considered in the light of knowing the best technological solution. A significant case study representing a technological solution to environmental management is the Three Gorges Dam (TGD) on the Yangtze River in China. The dam has two principal management purposes. These are; to provide energy sourced by more renewable means than coal burning alternatives, to meet rising demands, as well as reduce flooding of the Yangtze River. Following a deeper introduction of the TGD case study, four primary perspectives will be used to assess the environmental management outcomes and approaches. First the social implications and any gains of the project, including the issues of social injustice and lack of intra-generational equity, will be analysed. Secondly, the environmental detriments and issues, including loss of biodiversity and erosion, will be similarly analysed and critically weighed against environmental gains of the project. Thirdly, alternative solutions to the technological TGD for China, along the lines of people and societal management, will be assessed in terms of management outcomes and compared. Limits to technical solutions such as the TGD will also be assessed. Lastly, the societal management concept of the ‘bottom-up’ approach will be analysed and contrasted to the more technical top-down approach as used in the TGD case study. It is argued, in assessing the case study from these social and environmental perspectives alongside alternative people management solutions and decision making concepts, that managing the environment well is more so about managing the people and society than knowing the best technological solution.
In assessing the case study and detailing the argum...
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Admittedly, 2/3 of the world’s population living with water shortages is a scary enough statistic to send a shiver up the spine. Barlow doesn’t stop there however; she goes on to say that only 2 % of the U.S. rivers and wetlands remain untouched. What does that mean for the creatures that lived there? Covered that too, “37% of freshwater fish are at risk of ...
The Oroville dam is a rock fill embankment dam, which means, a water barrier that is made with certain materials so that it isn’t prone to erosion or deterioration. Because the material is so heavy due to the need for a secure dam, , it creates a much stronger barrier and base to its foundation. A study was done to see if a rock fill dam is the most stable type of dam to hold the amount of water it is expected to. The study tested different types of dams stability compared to the stability of a rock fill, and ultimately found that the rock fill is completely acceptable and safe (Lei). The Feather River is the only river to feed into the dam, filling it to its total capacity of 3,507,977 acre/ft.
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 the beginning of the construction of the Three Gorges Dam, there were several problems. There were several protestors and opinions about the dam before the Three Gorges Dam project was even started.1 China has had history of several dam failures in the mid-1970s that were responsible for thousands of deaths. The three gorges (Xiling, Wu, and Qutang) have scenery that is a tourist attraction.2 The dam was going to be a little over 600 feet tall, 7500 feet wide, and hold over 97 trillion gallons of water. Because of all of the population increase, China started using coal power plants1 and shipping, which causes acid rain over the region making the Yangtze River is one of the most polluted rivers in the world.4 It does not help that the Yangtze River runs right through Chinas industrial heartland. Using the river to transport their goods to other parts or China adds to the pollution.2 Pollution from mines, hospitals, and garbage dumping is another big problem for the river because the pollution is building up around the dam.1 With the Three Gorges Dam will come landslides because of the rising water tables and the large slopes with unstable soil from local farming causing more sediment being added to the river.3 And because the dam lies on a fault line there will also be an escalation of earthquakes. There is a huge decrease in sediment discharge; which caused a 90% sediment load into thousands of other reservoirs. Before the dam was operational, it was retaining water and sediments.4 The water levels were rising faster than anyone expected, therefore, the finish date had to be moved up.1 Scientists even projected that 70% of sediment discharge would be trapped for the first two decades and 44% would be store...
Looking at the dam’s environmental harm specifically, it is clear that this project should immediately cause. "Environmentalists warn that sewage will back up and destroy the precious habitats for river dolphins, giant pandas and other rare animals.
Three Gorges Dam, the largest hydropower in the world, has claimed to be a project that gives “hope” to the people in China. Located on the Yangtze River, the third longest river in the world, the Three Gorges Dam is the symbol of China’s technology and economic progress. For years, the government has claimed that it could benefit people’s living quality by improving the navigation on Yangtze River, providing hydroelectric power, and improving flood control. But does it true? Do the people in China get any benefit from this project? This paper will discuss about the environmental impact, the social consequence, and the current status of Government’s plans toward the Three Gorges Dam.
Since the 1920's, when the dam was first proposed, the Three Gorges Dam has been a topic for debate in the People's Republic of China. The construction of the world's largest hydro-electric project on the Yangtze River would be a detriment to the native flora and fauna, submerge rich farmlands, destroy archaeological sites, and force the evacuation of millions of people. Faced with international, as well as domestic, criticism about the ecological and social havoc the Three Gorges Dam would cause, the government of China has remained unnerved and has started construction on this highly questionable project. In December of 1995, Chinese Premier Li Peng officially launched the project at a construction site at Sandouping. However, the fight is not over yet since it will take close to twenty years to finish this massive water project.
Located next to the town of Sandopuping in south-central China, after 17 years of construction, the Three Gorges Dam is a modern marvel that now stands as the world’s largest hydroelectric dam. It spans 1.3 miles across the Yangtze River, the world’s third largest river, and stands 610ft high. The Yangtze River runs 3,937 miles from the province of Qinghai in eastern China to Shanghai feeding into the East China Sea. The dam may ...
The Three Gorges Project continues to leave a wake of environmental and social transgressions. An assortment of activists and over 45 international groups, including the International Rivers Network and Sierra Club, have fought the project and all its detrimental attributes (Lammers 1). But because of the predetermination of its construction, certain consequences associated with the Three Gorges Dam are inevitable, especially those resulting from the inundation zones.
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.
When dams are created, such as the Glen Canyon Dam, their done so in hope to manipulate water flow for our benefit. These benefits, or positives come from a wide rang of categories. Some include hydroelectric power, controlled water supply, flood control, recreational areas for leisure activities such as boating and fishing. However, as we have progressed since the building of the damn in 1963, it seems we have dug up a lot more negatives than positives.
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR AND BUREAU OF RECLAMATION. (1985) Hoover Dam. Washingto, D.C., pp. 56.
It is not distributed evenly around the world, or even the year of their unequal availability of the same locality so. Although part of the world is water shortages, it is prone to drought, other parts of the world, which is rich in water, facing a tool to optimize the management of available water resources challenging. Undoubtedly, the river is a great gift of nature, and has played an important role in the evolution of civilizations, but in many cases the river, weather, flood, has seriously undermined the lives and properties of people. One of the most important issues in the management of rivers has been, therefore, are considered. Specific plans to optimize water resources management requirements must evolve river as they found after extensive research, technical and economically feasible various basins. Since the advent of civilization, man has built dams and reservoirs to store excess water during the rainy season and during the lean period using available. Dams and reservoirs around the world have been playing water governance and socio-economic growth to accelerate to alleviate the suffering of the dual role of many people in the world from the vagaries of floods and droughts suffered. Dams and reservoirs to meet these basic human needs significant contributing:
Surely there exist cities that are determined to transform into more eco-friendly representatives of urban civilization, yet these efforts are typically focused on minimizing the harmful output of cities rather than rew...
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