A Fog of Smog in China
- iSSUes Vol. 1
- Dec 18, 2019
- 2 min read
How Pollution and Population Affect the Country
by Colin Canelli
Yeusheng Feng moved to the United States at age 13 in order to attend Xaverian Bothers High School in Westwood, Mass., and create better opportunities for himself to attend college. Yeusheng has lived in the U.S. ever since, and occasionally visits China when he can.
Q: Where in China did you grow up?
A: I actually grew up in Nanjing, China. I moved to the United States when I was 13, almost 14, and we obviously met in high school.
Q: Were there any other reasons your family came to the U.S.?
A: One of them was us just wanting to try and create a new and better life, the usual idea that the grass is greener on the other side.
Q: When would you say you first encountered climate change or pollution? Or when did you realize it was a big issue for our generation?
A: I remember right around 2009 or 2010 was when we realized that the population and pollution in China would be other potential reasons we might move to the U.S. I remember right before I came to Xaverian for High School -- in 2012 and 2013 -- was when the pollution started getting bad and I realized it was in other places as well.
Q: What kinds of things in your everyday life did the pollution and population change?
A: Well they really fed off of each other. As the population would grow, so would the amount of pollution, because more people use more appliances. I would have to wear masks when walking to school sometimes, or just being out on the street or heading to the market. And I didn’t have a car or anything, so on just a bike it could be difficult to get through big crowds.
Q: Were there any other environmental issues that affected everyday life? Or were there just things that stemmed from those?
A: Mostly just problems that arose from pollution or population. Like the large majority of the landfills in China being totally filled is a result of both overpopulation and pollution. The more people, the more waste. So it’s really just a vicious cycle that isn’t slowing down. Seeing that it has only just now been getting a bit better makes me glad we moved over to the U.S in some ways.
Q: Are there things people did, even just in the household, to try and help with those problems?
A: I can’t speak for anyone else, but my family was big on trying to recycle as much as possible and not create any waste. We would also never throw away food in my house and would try and use everything that we would get at the market when we would go. So I would say there were a couple of things my family did, but nothing too different from some of the efforts made here in any household.
Q: Is there anything else you’d like to say about the matter or during the interview?
A: Just that I hope not just China, but a lot of places in the world can slow down our production and consumption. We need to realize not everything we have is plentiful. Everything is finite.
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