Ever since the call for a greener earth was spread across the world in the later part of the 20th century, the initiative for countries to band together to clean up their footprints has risen. China traditionally has been affected the most when it comes to air pollution. Some of the pollution was so ill-contained that it reached and affected parts of California. With most of the western countries starting to clean up their act (no pun intended) and reaping the ecological and economical benefits, it didn’t take much more time for China to realize a change in emission standards was in order.
This month, China closed 80,000 factories temporarily due to their non-compliance of the emission standards put in place by the Chinese Communist party in 2016. Most senior Americans would testify to hearing stories of a corrupt Chinese government; one that allowed environmental standards to fall to the wayside in exchange for a higher yield of production. Fortunately, many steps have been taken by the Chinese government to combat corruption and ill-managed practices. In order to ramp up their economy to compete with America in the not so distant future, they need to have a more democracy- resembling approach to how they handle national issues such as pollution and global warming. Continuing on a streak of great ideas to ramp up the Chinese’ nation’s economy and power, the current leadership has started a slow but visible change in how China’s policies are seen around the world.