One Major Problem in the Process of Urbanization

As our society are now experiencing unprecedented changes brought by advancement in terms of economy and technology, numerous people leave their land to make a living in cities. And the influx of people promotes directly the process of urbanization in China. In other words, existing cities are growing larger, while new cities spring up like mushrooms after rain. Admittedly, our life has been greatly improved, with the construction of urban facilities. Nevertheless, urbanization itself gives rise to some problems, among which the environmental pollution stands out for its pervasiveness and seriousness.

To start with, the exploding urban population could bring pressure to the environment as well as aggravate the pollution. Immense land of woods and fields are converted to satisfy the need for urban construction. As a result, a large amount of animals have to leave their home, and some plants which cannot adapt to environmental changes even face the danger of extinction. Besides, household rubbish produced by city residents is piling up like mountains in landfills, some of which takes a long time to degrade. As for things like plastic bags famous for their poor degradation, burning it down might be effective but cause soil and air pollution in the meantime.

Furthermore, the increasing growth in the number of motor vehicles also brings many problems. On the one hand, the expansion of urban roads, however, fails to solve the problems of traffic jams in that compared with public transportation such as bus and subway, people prefer to drive in their own car for convenience. On the other hand, automobile exhaust emission does irreversible harm to the air. Consequently, there are more and more people suffering from diseases provoked by air pollutants.

Last but not least, the importance of water to human beings cannot be overemphasized. It’s sad to find out that tons of waste water from factories is contaminating rivers day and night. Gone are the days when people enjoyed swimming in the river and fishing on the bank. Worse still, the acquisition of potable water cannot even be assured. If someone who drinks polluted water by accident, the risk of getting infected could be much higher than others.

To conclude, the process of urbanization provides us both advantages and disadvantages. And it’s hard to tell whether the former outweigh the latter. But there is no denying that we citizens must be aware of the urgency to solve environmental problems. Without a clean and livable environment, urban life would be somewhat painful to endure.