Sara Hsu

 Environmental Kuznets Curve: three general stages: base level is the period prior to industrialization with little to no pollution because production is done on a smaller scale. second stage is characterized as the environmentally negative upswing in economic industrialization. In stage three, there is a turning point at which economic development shifts from exerting a negative impact on the environment to a positive one  Some evidence of this, but alternative results

 China follows inverted N-shaped curve  Criticisms: if you add additional variables such as other countries or variables relationship changes  Underlying theory is weak  New toxics increase pollution in developed countries  Should not be used as an excuse for pollution with industrialization

 Ashio Copper Mine: in use since the 1600s. in 1877, Japanese industrialist Furukawa Ichibe, expanded production to 90 times. Pollution in the local rivers of the mine turned the waters to a “bluish- white,” killing off fish and poisoning those that ate them.  By the late 1880s, flooding occurred in Tochigi prefecture, killing most vegetation that it came in contact with, and afflicted people in the immediate area with sores.  Local Diet member Tanaka Shozo, asked national government to respond to the incident by ceasing polluting activities, preventing future pollution,, laying basis for Japan’s first major environmental legislation, the Factory Law of Law called for large factories to have government approval before construction, and for inspectors to check for pollution. But the government did little to enforce regulation

 Post-WWI industrialization policies made pollution problem apparent: Illnesses caused by heavy metals in water prompted government to pass laws to regulate water pollution, starting in  Minamata disease symptoms included paralysis and derangement, caused by contamination of fish by organic mercury coming from industrial pollution of the Chisso Corporation and, later, of the Kanose factory of Showa Denko  Itai- Itai disease was caused by cadmium discharge from Kamioka mine.  Civil society increasingly opposed to pollution

 Water Quality Conservation Law of 1958: Law allowed Economic Planning Agency to identify public water with significant amounts of pollution. Limits were set as guidelines, with no penalties for violation  Basic Law for Environmental Pollution Control of 1967: restricted all types of pollution  Environment Agency: created to enforce laws

 Large problem with pollution, natural resource usage  Around the early 1970s events bore first real concern by Chinese government for environmental issues. In 1972, poisoned fish from the Guanting reservoir were found in Beijing markets. City of Dalian also had a pollution incident: the city’s beaches turned black, and local fish and shellfish died in large numbers  Severe water pollution  Stockholm Conference of 1972-environmental protection office  1979-Environmental Protection Law for Trial Implementation-Trial status removed in 1989

 Ministry of Environmental Protection, local Environmental Protection Bureaus may not correctly report or enforce violations  Desertification, water pollution, and air pollution. Desertification approaches 1/3 of China’s land territory. Air pollution is so severe that total suspended particulates in the majority of Chinese cities amount to twice the standard set by WHO  Water pollution-60% are Class IV rivers, depleted groundwater  Green energy technology is at same level as US

 Population pressures and environmental degradation-loss of biodiversity, air pollution, water pollution, loss of natural resources  High levels of pollution in ten major industrial hubs, much caused by burning coal, air monitoring stations set up  Environmental policies starting in 1970s were implemented starting in the 1970s, when India included a clause in its constitution protecting public health, forests, and wildlife  Air Prevention and Control of Pollution Act of 1981 and the Environmental Protection Act of 1986 also sought to protect the environment.

 The Department of Environment was created in 1980 to collect information and coordinate activities between various levels of governments  Ministry of Environment and Forests was created in 1985 to continue the functions of the Department of Environment, but also to provide promotional work about the environment. In December 1993, the Ministry of Environment and Forests put into place an Environmental Action Plan to include environmental considerations into developmental policies  Voluntary emissions controls for firms and lack of data renders enforcement nonfunctional

 Pollution has been a nasty side effect of the industrialization in all three countries  The countries have put in place laws to curb pollution, although the extent to which these laws are enforced varies by country.