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The economics–ecology nexus
Published in Peter N. Nemetz, Unsustainable World, 2022
There are numerous, more recent examples of revenge theory—all the consequences of well-intentioned but ill-informed interventions as matters of public policy. They are summarized in Table 2.1. One of the best known examples is China’s one-child policy, devised in an attempt to control the multifaceted negative consequences—political, economic, social, and ecological—of uncontrolled population growth in a country with a population already exceeding 1.25 billion (Ebenstein and Sharygin 2009). China was recently forced to abandon this policy for several reasons, most notably the potentially serious social consequences of the emergence of a large number of “bare branches”, or excess males with no prospect of marriage (Hudson and Den Boer 2004; New York Times November 4, 2015).
Population
Published in Dain Bolwell, Governing Technology in the Quest for Sustainability on Earth, 2019
China’s ‘one-child policy’ was introduced in 1979 in order to curb an explosive population growth that stemmed from the peace after the 1948 revolution. It was renounced only in 2015. The policy rewarded couples who had just one child with cash bonuses and better housing, and discouraged larger families with fines, forced abortions and official examinations for pregnancy by village family planning officers (Jian 2013). The one-child policy was resisted, especially in rural areas, where the predominance of agriculture dictates larger families; and within minority ethnic groups. In the first case two children were tolerated where the first was a girl, whereas in the second case the family was exempt. Nevertheless, the birth rate of 1.4 children per woman is now well below the rate of 2.1 needed to maintain the population level. As a result, China’s population is ageing as the spectacular economic growth rate of the past three decades is slowing. The one-child policy has also resulted in a skewed ratio of men to women because boys are traditionally preferred to girls among Chinese families and girl fetuses tend to be aborted more often than boys. Hence many men cannot find a marriage partner in China and look to other countries for brides.
Motivations for sustainable design
Published in Rob Fleming, Saglinda H Roberts, Sustainable Design for the Built Environment, 2019
Rob Fleming, Saglinda H Roberts
A large number of problems that we face today are not due solely to human indifference or evil polluters, but simply due to the fact that there are so many of us. The population growth rate would be considered a wonderful thing if we thought that the earth could support us. The explosion of human population is a perfectly normal and natural occurrence, given the remarkable characteristics of the human brain, our opposable thumbs, our unique ability to adapt varying climates for settlement, and the eradication of predators. In the equation I = PAT, reducing the population rate is a logical place to attack environmental problems. China enacted a “one child” policy which helped to curb population growth and led to a wide range of positive and negative impacts. The United Nations sees education of women as a primary strategy to reducing population growth. Overall, the planet’s population growth rate has slowed offering a glimmer of hope for an overburdened planet.
The effect of China’s birth policy changes on birth defects—A large hospital-based cross-sectional study
Published in International Journal of Environmental Health Research, 2023
Xin-Xin Liu, Dan-Yang Zhao, Xin Zhao, Xiao-An Zhang, Zeng-Li Yu, Li-Huan Sun
In 1979, the population of permanent residents in China was more than 960 million. To deal with the economic, social, and environmental problems caused by overpopulation, (Carmona 2005) the Chinese government introduced one-child policy (Therese Hesketh et al. 2005). In the past decade, although China’s population has been controlled, it has been accompanied by more social pressure due to the aging of the population, labor shortages, and gender imbalance. In order to increase total fertility, the Chinese government has gradually relaxed birth restrictions since 2011, announcing that couples with each parent was a singleton were allowed to have a second child. In November 2013, Chinese government encouraged couples if either parent was singleton to have the second child (Zhang et al. 2020; Chen et al. 2022). Subsequently, the universal two-child policy was officially declared in October 2015, which means that all families in China are entitled to have the second child (Zeng and Hesketh 2016).