The article I chose to evaluate is the National Ambient Air Quality Standards. The Wikipedia article contains standards, detection methods, air quality control region, see also, references and external links. The sections are relevant to the topic, but it seems lack of logical link among sections.
I like the introduction part of the page. The table under the "Standards" section does not have a title or an explanation, thus it seems distracted to me.
The article is neutral without personal viewpoints.
The first reference shows little contents, and the fifth reference needs elaboration. The references are from reliable sources, either published literature or government website. The information is still in use.
In the talkpage, some users and editers discussed why not include the entire standard in the wikipage. The article is under WikiProject United States / Government / Public policy, WikiProject Law, WikiProject Environment and WikiProject United States Public Policy. The wiki page needs more contents and explanation, and the way and content we discussed in class were more detailed than the page.
I edited National Ambient Air Quality Standards.
The articles I chose are National Ambient Air Quality Standards, Climate change in China, and Center for Clean Air Policy.
For National Ambient Air Quality Standards, there are missing contents for a standard. As I mentioned in the first two weeks, I can edit the introduction part, add titles and explanation of tables and pictures, and add more information about criteria pollutants.
For Climate change in China, the article reveals editors' opinions instead of facts. In the talkpage, a user asked about "Why China-US comparison?", and mentioned that the article is biased and against China. In addition, the structure of the article is weird.
For Center for Clean Air Policy, the article does not contain much information about the organization. Some information is outdated, like the revenue and expense information are dated on 2014.
Articles I may refer to:
For National Ambient Air Quality Standards:
https://www.epa.gov/criteria-air-pollutants/naaqs-table
https://www.epa.gov/criteria-air-pollutants/process-reviewing-national-ambient-air-quality-standards
https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/ENVIRONMENT/air_quality/conformity/policy_and_guidance/faqs/naaqs/
http://money.163.com/17/0602/22/CLV6U58B002580S6.html
http://re.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/files/The%20impacts%20of%20climate%20change%20on%20water.pdf
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF02656915
The final topic for the course is climate change in China. The structure of the article is quite weird, including "total emissions", "coal", "Effects of Climate Change", "Debate over China's economic responsibilities for climate change mitigation", and " Climate change mitigation measures". Some sections are long but have no focus, while others are too short. Some opinions are biased. As an article talking about China's environmental situation and policy-related article, most of the references are from news and articles from the United States.
Thus, I'd like to revise the structure as the following: "Introduction", "Current Situation", "Effects of Climate Change" (global and China), "Mitigation Measures and Policy", and "Debate".
I would want to refer to articles in the Chinese government website, journals and news.
Articles I want to refer to:
http://www.gov.cn/jrzg/2011-11/22/content_2000047.htm (the China' s response to climate change policies and action (2011))
http://www.theworldin.com/article/14435/edition2018chinas-climate-awakening (China’s changing attitude to climate change)
http://www.gov.cn/zhengce/content/2016-11/04/content_5128619.htm
http://money.163.com/17/0602/22/CLV6U58B002580S6.html
http://re.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/files/The%20impacts%20of%20climate%20change%20on%20water.pdf
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF02656915
As I mentioned in the last section, I decided to change the article structure, change biased viewpoints to neutral facts, update to current information, and add the current actions that China took to deal with the climate change situation.
Before -
After -
Before -
According to a statement made in The Economist in 2013, China has emitted more climate change gases from energy production than America since 2006 and by 2014-2015 China will emit twice America's total. At the present rate of development, cumulative Chinese emissions from energy production between 1990 and 2050 will equal those generated by the whole world from the beginning of the industrial revolution to 1970. About a quarter of China’s carbon emissions are produced in the manufacture of goods for export.
After -
China observed an ground average temperature increase of 0.24℃/decade from 1951 to 2017, exceeding the global ground average temperature increase rate. The average precipitation of China was 641.3 mm in 2017, 1.8% more than average precipitation of previous years. The sea level rise was 3.3mm/year from 1980 to 2017. There was an annual increase in concentrations of carbon dioxide from 1990 to 2016. The annual mean concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide in the Wanliguan Station were 404.4 ppm, 1907 ppb and 329.7 ppb separately in 2016, slightly higher than the global mean concentration in 2016. [1]
Before -
China is the largest consumer of coal in the world.
In 2009, China produced 18,449 TWh of the world's total 39,340 TWh.
China is now adding sulfur dioxide reducing technology to its power plants. It has been argued that the release of
sulfur dioxide from burning coal has slowed
global warming but has caused 4,698.3 deaths in the past decade.
After -
China experienced an electricity increase in 2017 as the economy accelerate [2].According to the Climate Data Explorer published by World Resources Institute, China, European Union and the USA took up more than 50% of the global green house gas emissions [3]. The energy industry has been the biggest contributor to green house gases emissions since the last decade [3].
According to the 2016 Chinese Statistical Yearbook published by China's National Bureau of Statistics, China's energy consumption was 430,000 (10,000 tons of SCE), including 64% coal, 18.1% crude oil, 5.9% of natural gas, and 12.0% primary electricity and other energy in 2016. The percentage of coal has decreased since 2011, and the percentage of crude oil, natural gas and primary electricity and other energy have increased since 2011 [4].
Add: According to the Investigation of Chinese public towards climate change, 94% interviewees agreed on carry out the Paris agreement, 96.8% interviewees supported international cooperation towards global climate change, and more than 70% interviewees were willing to purchase environmental friendly products. 98.7% interviewees agreed on carrying out climate change education at schools. The most concerned topic was the air pollution brought out by climate change. The investigation included 4025 samples. [5]
The investigation showed that Chinese citizens agreed that they were experiencing climate change, which was caused by human activities [6].
Before -
Agriculture[edit]
1 °C of regional mean warming is estimated to reduce wheat yield 3 to 10 percent in China. Grain crops mature earlier at higher temperatures, reducing the critical growth period and leading to lower yields (You et al. 2009).
After -
Agriculture
The negative effects on China's agriculture caused by climate change have appeared. There was an increase in agricultural production instability, a severe damage caused by high temperature and drought, lower production and quality in prairie. In the near future, the climate change may cause negative influences, causing a reduction of output in wheat, rice and corn, and change agricultural distribution of production. [7]
Add:
Forest and Other Natural Ecosystems
Climate change increases forest belt limits and frequencies of pests and diseases, decreases frozen earth areas, and threatens to decrease glacial areas in the northwest China. The vulnerability of ecosystems may increase due to future climate change. [7]
Water Resource and Costal Zone
Climate change decreased total water resources in the north China while increased total water resources in the south China. There were more floods, drought and extreme climates. There may be a big impact in the spacial and temporal distribution in China's water resources, increasing extreme weathers and natural disasters. Climate change caused the increase of the sea level, and threatened to impair the functions of the harbors. [7]
Before -
The position of the Chinese government on
climate change is contentious. China has ratified the
Kyoto Protocol, but as a
non-Annex I country which is not required to limit
greenhouse gas emissions under terms of the agreement. In particular since 2007 the Chinese government hasn't changed its attitude towards climate change policy and has become one of the major drivers of low-carbon technology developments.
[8]
In 2002, on the basis of an analysis of
fossil fuel consumption (including especially the
coal power plants
[9]) and cement production data, that China surpassed the United States as the world's largest emitter of
carbon dioxide, putting out 7,000 million tonnes, in comparison with America's 5,800 million.
[10]
According to data from the
US Energy Information Administration China was the top emitter by fossil fuels CO2 in 2009 China: 7,710 million tonnes (mt) (25.4%) ahead of
US: 5,420 mt (17.8%),
India: 5.3%,
Russia: 5.2% and
Japan: 3.6%.
[11]
China was also the top emitter of all greenhouse gas emissions including building and deforestation in 2005: China: 7,220 mt (16.4%), US: 6,930 mt (15.7%), 3. Brazil 6.5%, 4. Indonesia: 4.6%, 5. Russia 4.6%, 6. India 4.2%, 7. Japan 3.1%, 8. Germany 2.3%, 9. Canada 1.8%, and 10. Mexico 1.6%.
[11]
In the cumulative emissions between 1851 and 2007 the top emitters were: 1. US 28.8% 2. China: 9.0%, 3. Russia 8.0%, 4. Germany 6.9%, 5. UK 5.8%, 6. Japan 3.9%, 7. France 2.8%, 8. India 2.4%, 9. Canada 2.2% and 10. Ukraine 2.2%.
[11]
According to
BBC News, in September 2014, China surpassed the
European Union's per capita carbon emissions for the first time in history. China's per capita carbon emissions now stand at 7.2 t/capita.
[12] China's carbon emissions have increased rapidly since its economic boom in the early 2000s. Since then, their per capita carbon emissions have increased by more than 2.5 times.
[13]
After -
China ratified the Kyoto Protocol as a non-Annex B party without binding targets, and ratified the Paris Agreement to fight climate change [14]. As the world's largest coal producer and consumer country, China experienced a decrease in coal consumption since 2011 to 2016 [4]. However, China, the United States and India, the three biggest coal users, have increased coal mining in 2017. [15] The Chinese government has implemented strong policies to control coal consumption, and boosted the usage of natural gas and electricity. Looking ahead, the construction and manufacturing industries of China will give way to the service industry, and the Chinese government will not set a higher goal for economic growth in 2018, thus the coal consumption may not experience continuous growth in the next few years. [16]
The annual CO2 emissions of China was 10150.82 million tonnes in 2016, followed by the United States (5311.69 million tonnes) and India (2430.8 million tonnes). The CO2 emissions per capita of China was 7.36 tonnes in 2016, ranked third in the world (United States and Japan ranked first and second). [17] The energy structure and human activities caused global warming and climate change, and China suffered from negative effects in agriculture, forest, water resource etc.
China has enacted policies to constrain coal consumption. The Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) of China set goals and committed to peak CO2 emissions by 2030 in the latest, and increase the use of non-fossil energy carriers, taking up 20% of the total primary energy supply. [18] If China successfully reached NDC's targets, the GHG emissions level would be 12.8–14.3 GtCO2e in 2030, reducing 64% to 70% of emission intensity below 2005 levels. China has surpassed solar deployment and wind energy deployment targets for 2020. [19]
(Peer Review Ends Here)-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The paragraphs below is the revised article of climate change in China.
China ratified the Kyoto Protocol as a non-Annex B party without binding targets, and ratified the Paris Agreement to fight climate change [14]. As the world's largest coal producer and consumer country, China worked hard to change energy structure and experienced a decrease in coal consumption since 2013 to 2016. [16] However, China, the United States and India, the three biggest coal users, have increased coal mining in 2017. [15] The Chinese government has implemented strong policies to control coal consumption, and boosted the usage of natural gas and electricity. Looking ahead, the construction and manufacturing industries of China will give way to the service industry, and the Chinese government will not set a higher goal for economic growth in 2018, thus the coal consumption may not experience continuous growth in the next few years. [16]
The annual CO2 emissions of China was 10150.82 million tonnes in 2016, followed by the United States (5311.69 million tonnes) and India (2430.8 million tonnes). The CO2 emissions per capita of China was 7.36 tonnes in 2016, ranked third in the world (United States and Japan ranked first and second). [17] The energy structure and human activities caused global warming and climate change, and China suffered from negative effects in agriculture, forest, water resource etc.
China is implementing significant policies to mitigate the bad effects of climate change, most of which are aiming to constrain coal consumption. The Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) of China set goals and committed to peak CO2 emissions by 2030 in the latest, and increase the use of non-fossil energy carriers, taking up 20% of the total primary energy supply. [18] If China successfully reached NDC's targets, the GHG emissions level would be 12.8–14.3 GtCO2e in 2030, reducing 64% to 70% of emission intensity below 2005 levels. China has surpassed solar deployment and wind energy deployment targets for 2020. [19]
China observed an ground average temperature increase of 0.24℃/decade from 1951 to 2017, exceeding the global ground average temperature increase rate. The average precipitation of China was 641.3 mm in 2017, 1.8% more than average precipitation of previous years. The sea level rise was 3.3mm/year from 1980 to 2017. There was an annual increase in concentrations of carbon dioxide from 1990 to 2016. The annual mean concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide in the Wanliguan Station were 404.4 ppm, 1907 ppb and 329.7 ppb separately in 2016, slightly higher than the global mean concentration in 2016. [1]
China experienced an electricity increase in 2017 as the economy accelerate [20].According to the Climate Data Explorer published by World Resources Institute, China, European Union and the USA took up more than 50% of the global green house gas emissions [21]. The energy industry has been the biggest contributor to green house gases emissions since the last decade [21].
According to the 2016 Chinese Statistical Yearbook published by China's National Bureau of Statistics, China's energy consumption was 430,000 (10,000 tons of SCE), including 64% coal, 18.1% crude oil, 5.9% of natural gas, and 12.0% primary electricity and other energy in 2016. The percentage of coal has decreased since 2011, and the percentage of crude oil, natural gas and primary electricity and other energy have increased since 2011 [22].
According to the Investigation of Chinese public towards climate change, 94% interviewees agreed on carry out the Paris agreement, 96.8% interviewees supported international cooperation towards global climate change, and more than 70% interviewees were willing to purchase environmental friendly products. 98.7% interviewees agreed on carrying out climate change education at schools. The most concerned topic was the air pollution brought out by climate change. The investigation included 4025 samples. [23]
The investigation showed that Chinese citizens agreed that they were experiencing climate change, which was caused by human activities [24].
China can suffer some of the effects of global warming, including sea level rise, glacier retreat and air pollution.
The implications of climate change impose serious setbacks on global health and will hinder the economic development of various regions worldwide impacting countries on more than just the basic environmental scale. As in the case of China, we will see the effects on a social and economic level.
China’s first National Assessment of Global Climate Change, released recently by the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST), states that China already suffers from the environmental impacts of climate change: increase of surface and ocean temperature, rise of sea level. [25] Qin Dahe,former head of China’s Meteorological Administration, has said that the temperatures in the Tibetan Plateau of China are rising four times faster than anywhere else. [26] Rising sea level is an alarming trend because China has a very long and densely populated coastline, with some of the most economically developed cities such as Shanghai, Tianjin, and Guangzhou situated there. Chinese research has estimated that a one-meter rise in sea level would inundate 92,000 square kilometres of China’s coast, thereby displacing 67 million. [27]
There has also been an increased occurrence of climate-related disasters such as drought and flood and the amplitude is growing. They have grave consequences for productivity when they occur, and also create serious repercussions for natural environment and infrastructure. This threatens the lives of billions and aggravates poverty.
Furthermore, climate change will worsen the uneven distribution of water resources in China. Outstanding rises in temperature would exacerbate evapo-transpiration intensifying the risk of water shortage for agricultural production in the North. While because of the southern region’s over abundance in rainfall, most of its water is lost due to flooding. As the Chinese government faces challenges managing its expanding population, an increased demand for water to support the nation’s economic activity and people will burden the government. In essence, a water shortage is indeed a large concern for the country. [27]
Lastly, climate change could endanger human health by increasing outbreaks of disease and their transmission. After floods, for example, infectious diseases such as diarrhea, cholera are all far more prevalent. These effects would exacerbate the degradation of the ecologically fragile areas in which poor communities are concentrated pushing thousands back into poverty. [28]
The negative effects on China's agriculture caused by climate change have appeared. There was an increase in agricultural production instability, a severe damage caused by high temperature and drought, lower production and quality in prairie. In the near future, the climate change may cause negative influences, causing a reduction of output in wheat, rice and corn, and change agricultural distribution of production. [29]
Climate change increases forest belt limits and frequencies of pests and diseases, decreases frozen earth areas, and threatens to decrease glacial areas in the northwest China. The vulnerability of ecosystems may increase due to future climate change. [30]
Climate change decreased total water resources in the north China while increased total water resources in the south China. There were more floods, drought and extreme climates. There may be a big impact in the spacial and temporal distribution in China's water resources, increasing extreme weathers and natural disasters. Climate change caused the increase of the sea level, and threatened to impair the functions of the harbors. [31]
Some regions in China will be exposed to a 50 percent higher malaria transmission probability rate (Béguin et al., 2011). [32]
According to IPCC (2007) from 1900 to 2005 precipitation has declined in parts of southern Asia. By the 2050s freshwater availability including large river basins is projected to decrease in Asian regions. Coastal areas, specially the delta areas in Asia are projected to have increased flooding risk. Floods and droughts are expected to increase health concerns: diseases and mortality. [33]
The People's Republic of China is an active participant in the climate change talks and other multilateral environmental negotiations, and claims to take environmental challenges seriously but is pushing for the developed world to help developing countries to a greater extent. It is a signatory to the Kyoto Protocol, although China is not required to reduce its carbon emissions under the terms of the present agreement.[ citation needed]
China issued its first Climate Change Program in 2007, in response to its surpassing of the United States as the largest emitter of carbon dioxide emissions in the world. [34] The Chinese national carbon trading scheme was later announced in November 2008 by the national government to enforce a compulsory carbon emission trading scheme across the country's provinces as part of its strategy to create a " low carbon civilisation". [35] The scheme would allow provinces to earn money by investing in carbon capture systems in those regions that fail to invest in the technology. [36]
In 2004, Premier Wen Jiabao promised to use an "iron hand" to make China more energy efficient. China has surpassed the rest of the world as the biggest investor in wind turbines and other renewable energy technology. And it has dictated tough new energy standards for lighting and gas kilometrage for cars. [37] With $34.6 billion invested in clean technology in 2009, China is the world's leading investor in renewable energy technologies. [38] [39] China produces more wind turbines and solar panels each year than any other country. [40]
Coal is predicted to remain the most important power source in the near future but China has been seen as the world leader in clean coal technology. [41] [42] [43]
Nuclear power is planned to be rapidly expanded. By mid-century fast neutron reactors are seen as the main nuclear power technology which allows much more efficient use of fuel resources. [44]
China should push electric cars to curb its dependence on imported petroleum (oil) and foreign automobile technology, although they offer smaller cuts in carbon emissions than alternatives like hybrid electric vehicles, consulting firm McKinsey & Co says. [45]
A 2011 Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory report predicted that Chinese CO2 emissions will peak around 2030. This because in many areas such as infrastructure, housing, commercial building, appliances per household, fertilizers, and cement production a maximum intensity will be reached and replacement will take the place of new demand. The 2030 emissions peak also became China's pledge at the Paris COP21 summit. Carbon emission intensity may decrease as policies become strengthened and more effectively implemented, including by more effective financial incentives, and as less carbon intensive energy supplies are deployed. In a "baseline" computer model CO2 emissions were predicted to peak in 2033; in an "Accelerated Improvement Scenario" they were predicted to peak in 2027. [46]
Both internationally and within the People's Republic of China, there has been an ongoing debate over China's economic responsibilities for climate change mitigation.
{{
cite web}}
: |last=
has numeric name (
help)
{{
cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (
link)