China's Natural Environments

China is roughly the same size as the United States and only smaller than Russia and Canada. The difference between all these countries is China has to use its land and resources to support an economy with nearly one-fifth of the world population. It appears the grow the economy at any cost to the environment attitude has turned a corner in the first decade of the new millennium. The attitude of great prosperity and a booming economy can only come at the cost of the environment is finally looked at as bad by the very highest levels of government. The pollution, created by industry used to support such a booming economy, of the massive river system, and the deforestation is being viewed as unsustainable. While human interference and the upward climb of an advancing economy has played a huge role in China's environment, the future is looking less cloudy.