Environmental issues across

Asia

Georgia Performance Standard

SS7G10 a and b

Enduring Understanding

The student will understand that

humans, their society, and the

environment affect each other.

Georgia Performance Standards

SS7G10 The student will discuss

environmental issues across Southern

and Eastern Asia.

a. Describe the causes and effects of pollution

on the Yangtze and Ganges Rivers.

b. Describe the causes and effects of air

pollution and flooding in India and China.

India-water pollution

Causes of Ganges River pollution:

1. Waste from factories (industrial waste)

2. Chemicals from fertilizers (run-off)

3. Sewage (Human Waste) and Garbage

4. Cremated remains of humans (some people cannot afford cremation, and put the whole body in the river)

Effects of Ganges River pollution:

1. Shortage of clean water for drinking, cooking, and bathing

2. High rates of water-born diseases

3. Changing religious practices (Hinduism)

China-water pollution

Causes of pollution on the Yangtze River:

1. Waste from factories (industrial waste)

2. Chemicals from fertilizers (run-off)

3. Sewage

Effects of Pollution on the Yangtze River:

1. Plant and animal species are

disappearing (the endangered Yangtze

River Dolphin)

2. People are getting sick from drinking the

water and from eating contaminated fish

http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/gallery/2007/jul/18/china.pollution?picture=330216024

Beijing: A worker clears rubbish from canal. Reports suggest that as

many as 300 million Chinese people - nearly one in every four - drink

dirty water

Air pollution in India and China The biggest general cause of air pollution in both

India and China is overpopulation. Specifically,

more people mean more cars, and more

factories and power plants (most of which run

on coal) to produce goods and electricity

According to the World Bank- 12 of the15 most

polluted cities in the world are found here (8 in

China and 4 in India)

The 2008 Olympics in China were even affected.

Many countries would not sent their athletes to

compete for fear that they would get sick

Effects of air pollution in India

and China 1. More than 500,000 deaths each year (this is the

highest in the world)

2. Increase in respiratory and heart diseases

3. Lower GDP (because workers are in the hospital and

not working, less goods are being made, so less

goods can be sold)

4. Changing weather here in North America (particles

found in Chinese/Indian air are being found in

California)

5. The Taj Mahal is turning yellow!

More problems because China’s

overpopulation

http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/gallery/2007/jul/18/?picture=330216042

Asian Brown Cloud Brown haze that has many effects on the places it travels

above

Causes:

1. Toxic waste from factories

2. Motor vehicles emissions

3. Improper cooking fuels (cooking everyday indoors using wood or animal dung)

4. forest fires

Effects:

1. Alters monsoon patterns (the winds bring rain too early or too late-affects farming)

2. Affects overall climate (reduces rainfall and increases temperatures)

3. Reduces photosynthesis (affects oxygen levels)

4. Increases human respiratory problems

A satellite image

showing a haze of

pollution over part of

China caused by the

country's reliance on

coal.

Flooding in India and China Monsoons are essential for farming, but can

cause heavy flooding. This can cause death,

destruction of houses and crops, and water-

born disease

Yellow River (“China’s Sorrow”) killed 2

million in 1887 and 4 million in 1931 when it

flooded

Deforestation and draining wetlands also

cause rivers to flood more easily

What are they doing to fix it??

1. Government getting involved (passed the Ganges

Action Plan and created Environmental agencies)

2. Building new and improved sewage and water

treatment plants to make the rivers cleaner

3. Building sanitary landfills to keep garbage away

from the rivers

4. Chinese govt. built Three Gorges Dam to stop

flooding and create clean electricity

5. Closing factories temporarily

6. Slow population growth (1 baby policy in China)

7. Trying to stop deforestation

Ticket Out The Door If you were in charge of an

environmental organization in India OR China, how would you try to solve your nation’s environmental problems? Choose 1 problem in 1 country and address how YOU would fix it.

Write 1 paragraph (at least 5 sentences) explaining your answer.

Your topic sentence should be: If I were in charge of the environment in ________, I would…