China-Ethics and The Environment Case Study

China-Ethics and The Environment Case Study

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Abstract

Are We The Problem?

"First of all, it is obvious when we examine the world's population problem that there are just too many Chinese" (Text, Year, p. 141). "At its founding in 1949 the People's Repulic of China had a population of 540 million" (IIASA, 2008, p.1). "Only three decades later its population was more than 800 million (IIASA, p. 1). "The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) estimates that as of July 2004, there were 1,298,847,624 people in China; that's about 20 million more than in India, the country whose population holds second place" (Text, p. 141). Another challenge is most of the people live in a small portion of the country, thus emphasizing the population problem. "Roughly 1 billion Chinese (or more than 90% of the population) live in only a little more than 30% of the country's land area" (IIASA, p.

China, Shibangou Bridge underpass, Fuling, Yan...

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People in the Bus for Public Transportation

1).

In 1978, the Chinese government began "strongly encouraging young adults to marry late and to have only one child per family" (Text, Year, p. 141). This is the one-child policy and is not consistently enforced. However, there were benefits attached to signing the policy and it eventually began to show results in demographic trends (Text, Year, p. 141). "This policy has already been loosened for parents who were single children themselves, for farmers, and for ethnic minorities" (IIASA, 2008, p. 1). In the 1970's the world also began to notice potential population problems.

There are many parties impacted by the growth problems of China. Primarily the Chinese. Despite the aforementioned benefits of adopting the one-child policy, there could be individuals who wish to have more than one child. When adopting the policy, the country created unintended consequences of a "preponderance...