China: Energy, Environment, and Limits to Growth
China: Energy, Environment, and Limits to Growth
China has achieved rapid economic growth over the past three decades. However, the benefits of growth have not been shared evenly and the growth has been achieved with very high environmental costs. The underlying trends in term of air pollution, water usage and pollution, soil erosion and land degradation, as well as energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions are unsustainable. The current trends could potentially lead to major collapses of China’s as well as the global ecological systems. It is unlikely that the current trends can be reversed within an economic system dominated by private ownership of the means of production and market competition. An alternative system based on democratic planning and social needs may be required for China to deliver ecological sustainability while meeting the population’s basic needs.
Keywords: China, rapid economic growth, environment, pollution, degradation, ecology, sustainability
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