Your Questions About Green Living

Can someone help me summarize this?

PLEASE!! I need help… I was wondering if anyone could summarize this for me?

Development of freedom

Whether in sub-Saharan, China or elsewhere, chronic poverty deprives numbers of people of the incentives and economic means to care for and nourish their natural environment. Yet being poor is only one element of people’s blighted relationship to the environment. According to economist and Nobel laureate Amarthya Sen, poverty needs to understood in broader terms than only the lack of monetary income. Sen argues that poverty should be characterized fundamentally in terms of the deprivation of basic freedoms, rather than merely low incomes. In his view, development not only has the economic dimension with which it is usually understood but, more important, requires the removal of the “unfreedoms” endured by most people in underdeveloped countries. Besides poverty, these unfreedoms include, deprivation of health care, lack of sanitation, exclusion from education (especially women), exclusion from market activities, and above all, tyrannical regimes associated with systematic deprivation of political liberty and basic civil rights.

Development, in Sen’s view, must included the freedom of democratic choices as well as the freedom of economic choices. Without such freedoms, people lack the opportunity for education, public debate, and discussion, which make possible rational choices about quality of life issues, including the environment, as well as rational choices about their families or their government. It follows that environmental improvement requires not only a measure of economic power for individuals but also the broader freedoms of individuals to set priorities for themselves, their families, and their society. Such freedoms also nourish the development of social values and environmental ethnics going beyond the bounds of government regulations and market rules. These values and ethnics are essentials for developing a healthy and sustainable environment.
I have argued above that countries and people in the earliest stage of development tend to have little interest in environmental issues as typically understood in the individual countries, such as rain or global warming. In the subsistence phase, sheer survival amidst historically hostile environments has usually been the main challenge of their lives. This is not to say that poor societies do not have respect for their own environment- Native American nations, for example, generally have a profoundly spiritual relationship with their natural environment (though it has often been abused by outside forces). I have also noted that countries and people in the second phase of development, such as China, are quite aware of the collateral environmental deterioration occurring along with their industrialization and modernization. Yet in countries such as China, not only is domestic investment capital scarce, but also social priorities, including environmental quality, are set mostly by government rather than popular choice. Investments aimed at cleaning the environment typically have not reached the top of the governments priority scale, because other social investments (eg. in energy production, housing, education, and industrial production for consumption and exports) have been seen as providing far greater benefits. As mentioned above, this situation is changing as China’s economy rapidly grows.

What do you think of China telling restaraunts to take dog off the menu during the Olympics?

Restaurants and hotels in the Chinese capital have been asked to take dog meat off the menu during Olympics and Paralympics due to concerns that the canine dishes might be offensive to Westerners and animal rights activists.
“Gourmets with a special predilection for dog meat will be disappointed if they come to the Chinese capital in the coming two months,” a Beijing Tourism Bureau official said.

The Beijing Catering Trade Association (BETA) has issued a circular forbidding all the 112-designated restaurants from providing dog meat dishes during Olympics and strongly advised other establishments to suspend serving the canine delicacy until September.

“If a customer orders dog meat, the restaurant staff should patiently suggest another entree,” Xiong Yumei, the Bureaus Vice-Director, was quoted as saying by official Xinhua news agency. “Conflicts should be avoided.” Canine dishes are popular among the Korean community in Beijing, as also in Yunnan and Guizhou restaurants.

Apart from being a delicacy, dog meat is also believed by many Chinese to be an effective element to lower blood pressure. Some also think it boosts “sexual prowess”.

Animal rights and environmental activists claim dogs are brutally killed with clubs and knives in China‘s dog meat industry.

Need help summarizing something.?

I was wondering if someone could help me summarize the paragraphs?

Development of freedom

Whether in sub-Saharan, China or elsewhere, chronic poverty deprives numbers of people of the incentives and economic means to care for and nourish their natural environment. Yet being poor is only one element of people’s blighted relationship to the environment. According to economist and Nobel laureate Amarthya Sen, poverty needs to understood in broader terms than only the lack of monetary income. Sen argues that poverty should be characterized fundamentally in terms of the deprivation of basic freedoms, rather than merely low incomes. In his view, development not only has the economic dimension with which it is usually understood but, more important, requires the removal of the “unfreedoms” endured by most people in underdeveloped countries. Besides poverty, these unfreedoms include, deprivation of health care, lack of sanitation, exclusion from education (especially women), exclusion from market activities, and above all, tyrannical regimes associated with systematic deprivation of political liberty and basic civil rights.

Development, in Sen’s view, must included the freedom of democratic choices as well as the freedom of economic choices. Without such freedoms, people lack the opportunity for education, public debate, and discussion, which make possible rational choices about quality of life issues, including the environment, as well as rational choices about their families or their government. It follows that environmental improvement requires not only a measure of economic power for individuals but also the broader freedoms of individuals to set priorities for themselves, their families, and their society. Such freedoms also nourish the development of social values and environmental ethnics going beyond the bounds of government regulations and market rules. These values and ethnics are essentials for developing a healthy and sustainable environment.
I have argued above that countries and people in the earliest stage of development tend to have little interest in environmental issues as typically understood in the individual countries, such as rain or global warming. In the subsistence phase, sheer survival amidst historically hostile environments has usually been the main challenge of their lives. This is not to say that poor societies do not have respect for their own environment- Native American nations, for example, generally have a profoundly spiritual relationship with their natural environment (though it has often been abused by outside forces). I have also noted that countries and people in the second phase of development, such as China, are quite aware of the collateral environmental deterioration occurring along with their industrialization and modernization. Yet in countries such as China, not only is domestic investment capital scarce, but also social priorities, including environmental quality, are set mostly by government rather than popular choice. Investments aimed at cleaning the environment typically have not reached the top of the governments priority scale, because other social investments (eg. in energy production, housing, education, and industrial production for consumption and exports) have been seen as providing far greater benefits. As mentioned above, this situation is changing as China’s economy rapidly grows.

What exactly is environmental health? HELP! :)?

I don’t really know if this is the right category, cause i’m confused on what environmental health is in the first place. I read some definitions (like the way the World Health Organization defines it) but I’m still kinda confused and I need some examples 🙂
So what exactly is environmental health? And would the food safety issue in China (melamine-tainted milk, etc.) be considered part of environmental health? Or would that be something else? Help please I’m really confused lol. Thanks so much!

China’s position on climate change?

China‘s position on climate change?
In regards to the United Nations and reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and halting rapid climate change, how would China take their position? Who are their allies in the UN? Because they are a global powerhouse and recognized as an economic leader with rapid industrialization and growth, it seems environmental issues would be a small concern, but with the 2008 Olympics and previous obligations to reduce their pollution, they have taken note of the issues. How would they/have they acted towards proposals on climate change/reducing GHG?