A recent report indicates that about 1/5 of China's arable land is polluted. Some areas are relatively more severe than others. The polluted land is due to pollution from industries and mining.The most common pollutant found in the soil were heavy metals. Although air pollution is more visible and present in China than land pollution, it is affecting everyone. One person noted that "heavy metal particles in the air and water seep into the land, then get into the food and affect everybody".
A survey conducted found that 16% of the countries soil and 19% of arable land is polluted. This means that about 8.24 million acres of arable land has become unfit for farming. A 2013 study showed that rice from the country's top rice producing region showed high levels of Cadmium in the rice.
China's problem of land pollution will likely lead them to begin importing more food. China has also recently committed to spending $4.8 billion to clean up and prevent soil pollution in a five year plan. However, critics argue that it is going to cost a lot more that to clean up and prevent future pollution.
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304626304579507040557046288?mg=reno64-wsj&url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB10001424052702304626304579507040557046288.html
-Jackie Bland
I thought this article was interesting because just yesterday at work, a member told me about an article she read about how China's pollution is affecting our weather. I couldn't find the article but apparently one theory to our crazy winter weather across the country is that China's air pollution is moving over the pacific and some how causing weather patterns to change.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment