In-Class Timed Essay

Prompt: According to Hertsgaard, what is China doing to help reduce the air pollution caused by burning coal? What steps does Hertsgaard feel they should be taking instead?

According to Hertsgaard, China is not doing enough to reduce the air pollution caused by burning coal. Hertsgaard argues that China needs to take on a less economic and more environmental focus on the issue of air pollution in order to truly improve it.

Hertsgaard claims that the Chinese people have taken on an attitude of resigned acceptance of the air pollution issue. Since the Chinese economy was not faring well, “the biggest complaint [of the people] was being miserably poor” and they were willing “to put up with a great deal of…environmental unpleasantness” if it mean they could escape some poverty by getting jobs (158). Since the attitude of the people in China can be summarized in the phrase “my body has gotten used to this air,” the people really see no urgency in dealing with the issue of air pollution, not realizing its detrimental effects (165). For this reason, the majority of the Chinese people have not done much of anything to deal with the pollution.

Even those individuals who are “aware of the health effects of pollution” are not doing much to resolve the issue, still deciding “to take their chances if it meant more money in their pockets” (179). On a larger scale, the government too is focused on economic development, considering it “the most important goal for China…more important than the environment” (160). With this attitude, neither the individuals nor the government is doing much at all to reduce air pollution from coal.

That is not to say that nothing at all is being done in China to reduce air pollution. For instance, “the government had moved all [of Beijing’s] heavy industry out of the downtown area,” but this still did not reduce air pollution by much (164). This is essentially half-solving the issue, not truly tackling it head on. Another example is in Chongqing, where “75 percent of city households relied on natural gas,” an alternative to coal, “but current reserves would be exhausted in ten years” (173). This is only a temporary fix, a band-aid for the issue of air pollution. It is still not enough. Government clean-up programs have also been initiated, such as the one in Shenyang, “but the city’s TSP levels” still remained incredibly high (177). Again, China is not really getting to the problem of air pollution as it should.

The environmentalists in China argue that education and “raising public consciousness” are the two keys to ameliorating the pollution issue in China. Although educating the public and raising its awareness of environmental issues may sound like a good idea in theory, it may not work in practice because of the deep entrenched belief of the Chinese people that economic development is more significant than environmental issues. This is still not enough; air pollution will still not be reduced much.

Hertsgaard presents several alternatives to what is being done in China. One of these is to use the chemical process of washing before burning coal (182). China is still not doing this enough, so Hertsgaard advocates that it can be done more. Another alternative would be “to simply use less coal in the first place,” but this is easier said than done because of the focus on economic problems rather than environmental ones. Supply-side alternatives and an expansion of natural gas exploration are also two other alternatives that Hertsgaard presents.

Hertsgaard is getting at the notion that in order to reduce air pollution, China needs to take a less economic and more environmental stance on the issue, a difficult but possible goal. One example would be building three plants that don’t have harmful emissions instead of building four that do (182). This simplistic example just goes to show that even a small change in the mindset of the Chinese people can produce a relatively large difference in the environment. So, Hertsgaard is not saying to focus solely on the environment; he is advocating that even a small shift from an economic perspective to an environmental one can and will make a big difference.

My Thoughts: This was one of the last in-class essays I wrote for this particular English Honors course. I feel that I have combined all the skills I learned for taking such in-class tests and written a successful essay here in the time allotted. I feel that I was able to provide great evidence to back up my points, and I have gotten better at incorporating this evidence directly into my essay by transitioning in and out of quotes. I also feel that throughout this course, I have become a better writer in terms of writing without proofreading. Since timed tests don't allow time for proofreading because I spend most of the time writing, I have to learn to write more succinctly, and I feel that I have accomplished that in this essay.