We all want to live in a world where the environment can be improved for future generations: In Asia, the burgeoning population places special demands on the environment, raising troubling questions about the future of a green society.
Although the fertility levels in Asia are actually decreasing, the population is still so vast, and increasing every day. These huge numbers of people are all consuming, and contributing to a depletion of natural resources, which are, unfortunately, sometimes finite: they will not last forever, while people will keep reproducing forever.
Think for a moment about the number of cars in Asia. Every day, the roadways become more jammed with new vehicles, all of them producing toxic emissions that contribute to the problem of global warming. As well, they consume precious natural resources: gasoline, motor oil, steel. In order to address the goals of a “green” society, we must look at the impact of Asia’s massive population, and understand the scale of consumption and pollution that is created by so many cars, and so many people.
Strict and timely attention needs to be given to the special problems facing Asia and the environment, because they affect the entire globe. Governments must work together to ensure that controls on emissions are closely monitored, and that every effort is made to provide alternate systems of public transit for the people of Asia. With the eyes of the world recently focused on Beijing, and the terrible air quality that has even caused some athletes to drop out of the world’s most prestigious sports competition, due to health concerns, it is easy to see that the problem has already reached critical mass. Let’s hope that the Olympics casts a spotlight on the problem, in such a way that real, long-term solutions and strategies might result from all the negative attention
