China’s continuing renewable energy revolution: global implications

Author: John Mathews and Hao Tan
Chapter 1: Understanding Our Environment
Video Clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXz3ZfZDKYA
Content of the Article: http://www.energypost.eu/chinas-continuing-renewable-energy-revolution-global-implications/ 
                                                                          What Was The Article About?
China has a high production of coal and is a strong emitter of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, and as the use of coal for thermal power continues to increase, blackened skies and poisoned water and air are at an all-time high in China. Industrial companies have no restrictions on the use of the environmentally unfriendly resources and the laws of limiting air pollution are not enforced by the Chinese government, which only worsens the condition of the Chinese environment. Some Chinese scientists have even compared the critical state of the country as the resemblance of a nuclear winter, or a layer of smoke and dust in the atmosphere blocking the sun's rays. The expanding reliance on fossil fuels and the over-use of non-renewable resources in industrial China, is slowing down the process of photosynthesis in plants and ‘’wreaking havoc on the country’s food supply,’’ as well as the health of the people. Although the pollution is in an advanced stage, the Chinese country is undergoing what many call an ‘’Energy Revolution’’ by taking rigorous measures to replace hazardous energy resources (carbon, coal, etc.) with alternate, eco-friendly energy-producing resources like wind, water, and solar power, to prevent further pollution. 
                                                                                    Reflection
The problem in the article is the extensive use of nonrenewable, contaminants in energy production caused by humans,the players, for human consumption (specifically in China). The environment is the one being affected as well as the humans because the atmosphere is being polluted and becoming too toxic to breathe by humans (it may cause asthma, cancer, lung disease, and a variety of other respiratory problems) due to the use of the hazardous resources such as coal and carbon. The solution to this problem is to begin using safer resources for energy production like wind power, solar power, or water power, all of which are harmless to the environment and greatly reduce the toxicity of the air we breathe. The way I feel towards the article is that humans still have hope in preventing the complete destruction of our Earth. It showed me that humans are capable of living without the hazardous materials/resources we are currently using. The article relates to AP Environmental Science because in chapter 1,  the act of burning fossil fuels and other human activities was shown to release ''greenhouse gases'' that trap heat in the atmosphere and create toxic oxygen (air pollution), which relates back to the energy-producing using resources that are bad for the environment (the atmosphere, in this case). Chapter 1 also introduced efforts to introduce and use renewable energy sources in China in order to safe and maintain the small amount of safe oxygen left in the Chinese atmosphere. I learned that if we do not stop and take action today, the Earth (not just China) will become uninhabitable because the oxygen (a vital part of our survival and of life on Earth) will be useless, as it will be too toxic for us to breathe and dangerous for our health- the world will experience what China is going through.