Annabelle Tsaboukas is pursuing her Bachelor’s degree at Hunter College, double majoring in Geography with a concentration in Environmental Studies, and Chinese Language. Her research interests are in the areas of environmentally sustainable development, water supply, China, pollution, GIS, participatory approach, and animal rights. Her research utilizes GIS to analyze aspects of water contamination and environmental science. While at Hunter, she was engaged in independent research determining sites of potential sewage pollution in publically accessible coastal areas of New York City, ultimately to find insight into preventive measures for water pollution. More recently she has developed an interest in the dynamics of Chinese urban development and the connections between that dynamic and environmental degradation. Her research goal is to use her ecological modeling background to contribute to the understanding of how development of China’s rural landscape can be conducted sustainably so as to avoid watershed and soil deterioration.
Chinese Atmospheric Pollution: An Overview of Causes and Mitigation Efforts
Abstract
This paper looks at the largely coal-derived air pollution in and around the Bohai Economic Rim of northeastern China, which has spread by way of Westerly winds to most of the Korean peninsula and regions of Japan below the island of Hokkaido. The research employs a review of the literature to consider the probable sources, process, and related issues of the problem, as well as possible alleviations weighed for their effectiveness and economic cost. The air pollution issue in China is significant as it impacts not only its Asian neighbors, but also the West Coast of the United States, and contributes to increasing levels of greenhouse gases in the Earth’s atmosphere as a whole. This area proves to be difficult in that a sizeable portion of industrial emissions in China can be linked to factories producing products for foreign markets.
Key Words: China, air pollution, dust storm, particulate matter, environmental policy, international cooperation