Why China?
When I was little, I remember my dad traveling to China and when he came back he brought: Chinese fans, trinkets from the 2008 Beijing Olympics , and other small nik-naks. Ever since then I have been interested in traveling to China to see its culture and amazing cities. In addition, in sophomore year took AP Human Geography and learned all about different countries and their geography. In one particular unit we learned about the ways a country's population can influence the environment, such as: chemical run off, global warming, and pollution. I started to become interested in the enormous relationship between the environment and humans and how they interconnected and influence one another.
When I was given this research project, politics seemed like a very common topic upon my classmates. In an attempt to be original and unique, I tried to steer away from politics and government and began to lean towards the environment. Originally, I had tried to find a current event in Australia because it has always been my dream place to go someday. However during the search for a topic in Australia, I came across the environmental crisis in China. After briefly looking into a few articles, I decided it had enough information to create an essay and created my research question - To what extent does China's ongoing issue of overpopulation have a straining impact on the environment?
When I was given this research project, politics seemed like a very common topic upon my classmates. In an attempt to be original and unique, I tried to steer away from politics and government and began to lean towards the environment. Originally, I had tried to find a current event in Australia because it has always been my dream place to go someday. However during the search for a topic in Australia, I came across the environmental crisis in China. After briefly looking into a few articles, I decided it had enough information to create an essay and created my research question - To what extent does China's ongoing issue of overpopulation have a straining impact on the environment?
building my research
After doing some basic research on different views of my topic, I started to construct a general outline of my essay. Due to China being one the world's largest countries, I found an array of various environmental related issues and problems such as air pollution, cancer villages, and biodiversity. Although, after reading and researching a handful of articles , I pinpointed the topics I was most interested in further researching. The topics I chose included: air pollution, water pollution, crop land deterioration, and deforestation. Along with these main ideas, I decided that I should include a solution that could control the population, pollution, and land deterioration. Finally, during my last few steps of researching I decided on two solutions: regulating resource usage and the one-child policy.
From the start, I was overwhelmed with the concept of having to chose one country out of the whole world and pick one specific issue that would be interesting enough to write an entire essay on. However, after completing my basic research and learning more about my topic, I was able to easily piece together my overall thesis. China's overpopulation increasingly harms the croplands, air quality, and natural resources. In attempts to control this, policies have been addressed in the past but did not have lasting effects. At first, I though that my thesis was generally good and covered all of my areas of research. Although, following more research I decided to tweak my thesis in a way that encapsulated the serious and dire tone of my topic. The overpopulation in China continues to threaten the air pollution, water quality, cropland deterioration, and deforestation; however, these could be resolved through regulating resource usage as well as enforcing the one-child policy. Writing my final draft of my research question was a tremendous weight lifted off my shoulders because I knew that now my topic was locked in and all I had to do was build on it.
From the start, I was overwhelmed with the concept of having to chose one country out of the whole world and pick one specific issue that would be interesting enough to write an entire essay on. However, after completing my basic research and learning more about my topic, I was able to easily piece together my overall thesis. China's overpopulation increasingly harms the croplands, air quality, and natural resources. In attempts to control this, policies have been addressed in the past but did not have lasting effects. At first, I though that my thesis was generally good and covered all of my areas of research. Although, following more research I decided to tweak my thesis in a way that encapsulated the serious and dire tone of my topic. The overpopulation in China continues to threaten the air pollution, water quality, cropland deterioration, and deforestation; however, these could be resolved through regulating resource usage as well as enforcing the one-child policy. Writing my final draft of my research question was a tremendous weight lifted off my shoulders because I knew that now my topic was locked in and all I had to do was build on it.
Difficulties & Struggles
Going into the project, I assumed that researching was going to be one of the more challenging parts. In the beginning, I immensely struggled with figuring out where to begin my research. I was not sure whether to look up statistics or general facts, first-hand experiences or statements from environmentalists. After being frustrated with my first few days of research, I decided to start over from scratch. I decided to use a new strategy of focusing on the basics of each individual topic and then branching out my research.
Trying to figure out where to start was not my only challenge with my research. Throughout my whole research process, I began to notice that many of the articles where extremely specific to one area of the environment. For example, I found various articles on how the water was polluted with dead baby pigs; however that was not what I was trying to find. China's tremendous environmental issues and growing population have been gradually worsening over the years. As a result, I was finding numerous articles from the 1970s-1980s and from the early 2000s, which is when the population and environment started having issues. Consequently, I eventually learned how to make my research more specific to what I needed involving my topic and the time period.
Trying to figure out where to start was not my only challenge with my research. Throughout my whole research process, I began to notice that many of the articles where extremely specific to one area of the environment. For example, I found various articles on how the water was polluted with dead baby pigs; however that was not what I was trying to find. China's tremendous environmental issues and growing population have been gradually worsening over the years. As a result, I was finding numerous articles from the 1970s-1980s and from the early 2000s, which is when the population and environment started having issues. Consequently, I eventually learned how to make my research more specific to what I needed involving my topic and the time period.
SUrprises
After completing my research, topic question, and my outline, I was overwhelmed thinking of how to put it all into one essay. Putting countless days of research and 28 note-cards into one essay seemed like quite the challenge. On the other hand, my outline was immensely helpful in being able to do this. Once I wrote topic sentences for each paragraph and added in my research, the essay came together rather easily. I was surprised with how easy and somewhat effortless piecing together the essay was. Although editing and re-writing sections were not so effortless, I was pleasantly shocked with how quickly I included all of my main ideas and research.
ANy New Developments?
Due to the long history involving the relationship of population and environment, there have not been any significant beneficial developments in China. On the other hand, there have been new finding on the impacts of the degrading environment. In an article written by John Harvard, I learned that the air-pollution from the vehicles, factories, and various other pollutants are building up exponentially. As a result of this, the large cities are beginning to face ground-level ozone pollution. Unlike normal ozone pollution, ground-level pollution comes in contact with citizens and causes various health problems. Along with discovering ways the environment is detrimentally effected, there have been developments in the future outlook of China's population. No laws, no policies, and no acts have been put into place in an attempt to solve the population crisis. When the one-child policy was lifted in 2013, there was a sudden exponential outburst in population growth, explaining the millions of vehicles burning fuels and the demand for more natural resources. However, now that the one-child policy has been lifted for a couple years, the Chinese Academy of Social Science (CASS) has observed that there is a significant demographic decline. Although these new discoveries are not positive or beneficial to the ongoing issue, these discoveries are influential to citizens and reinforces the dire need to address it.