Winding 1,560 miles across northern India, from the Himalaya Mountains to the Indian Ocean, the Ganges River is not a sacred place: it is a sacred entity [thing]. Known as Ganga Ma—Mother Ganges—the river is revered as a goddess whose purity cleanses the sins of the faithful and aids the dead on their path toward heaven. But while her spiritual purity has remained unchallenged for millennia, her physical purity has deteriorated as India’s booming population imposes an ever-growing burden upon her. The river is now sick [2004] with the pollution of human and industrial waste, and water-borne illness is a terrible factor of Indian life. But the threat posed by this pollution isn’t just a matter of health—it’s a matter of faith. Veer Bhadra Mishra, a Hindu priest and civil engineer who has worked for decades to combat pollution in the Ganges, describes the importance of protecting this sacred river: “There is a saying that the Ganges grants us salvation. This culture will end if the people stop going to the river, and if the culture dies the tradition dies, and the faith dies.”. . . In 1985, the government of India launched the Ganga Action Plan, which was devised to clean up the river in selected areas by installing sewage treatment plants and threatening fines and litigation [legal action] against industries that pollute. Almost 20 years later, the plan has been largely unsuccessful. The Western-style treatment plants simply did not meet the needs of the region. Such treatment facilities are designed for use in countries where the supply of electricity is stable, there’s no season of overwhelming monsoon rains, and the population doesn’t drink directly from the water source. Many Indians blame the plan’s failure on mismanagement, corruption and technological mistakes. A key criticism is that local communities, those most invested in the health of the river, were not included in the planning process. . . . U6L7: Document B Source: Andrew J. Milson, “Rescuing Lake Maracaibo,” Water Resources, National Geographic Learning, 2014 . . .Venezuela’soil industry has crisscrossed Lake Maracaibo with about 15,000 miles of pipelines. “We say that the lake’s practically a plate of spaghetti with the quantity of pipes there,” says local historian Pedro Estrada. Unfortunately, many of the pipes are old, rusty, and leaking. In 2010, the leaky pipes released oil that washed up on Lake Maracaibo’s shores, harming fish and birds. Other sources of pollution are damaging the lake as well. About 500 companies dump waste into the lake’s tributaries, and the area’s inhabitants produce tons of sewage. Chemical runoff from farms also flows into the lake. Only about 20 percent of this waste, runoff, and sewage is treated before it enters the lake. . . . U6L7: Document C Source: Geography Theme Activities, Global Insights: People and Cultures, Glencoe/McGraw-Hill . . . Mexico City residents once viewed the forest of smokestacks and their congested highways with pride. They saw these developments as symbols of modernization and proof of a growing economy. In recent years, however, air pollution has begun to have a serious impact on their lives. Several times during 1992, for instance, Mexico City’s ozone level climbed well over the “very dangerous” point on the official index and remained there for days. Each time the government declared an emergency. Car use was restricted, and industries were required to cut back operations. One result of such events is that more and more people are beginning to equate the city’s factories and cars with environmental

Question

Winding 1,560 miles across northern India, from the Himalaya Mountains to the Indian Ocean, the Ganges River is not a sacred place: it is a sacred entity [thing]. Known as Ganga Ma—Mother Ganges—the river is revered as a goddess whose purity cleanses the sins of the faithful and aids the dead on their path toward heaven. But while her spiritual purity has remained unchallenged for millennia, her physical purity has deteriorated as India’s booming population imposes an ever-growing burden upon her. The river is now sick [2004] with the pollution of human and industrial waste, and water-borne illness is a terrible factor of Indian life. But the threat posed by this pollution isn’t just a matter of health—it’s a matter of faith. Veer Bhadra Mishra, a Hindu priest and civil engineer who has worked for decades to combat pollution in the Ganges, describes the importance of protecting this sacred river: “There is a saying that the Ganges grants us salvation. This culture will end if the people stop going to the river, and if the culture dies the tradition dies, and the faith dies.”. . . In 1985, the government of India launched the Ganga Action Plan, which was devised to clean up the river in selected areas by installing sewage treatment plants and threatening fines and litigation [legal action] against industries that pollute. Almost 20 years later, the plan has been largely unsuccessful. The Western-style treatment plants simply did not meet the needs of the region. Such treatment facilities are designed for use in countries where the supply of electricity is stable, there’s no season of overwhelming monsoon rains, and the population doesn’t drink directly from the water source. Many Indians blame the plan’s failure on mismanagement, corruption and technological mistakes. A key criticism is that local communities, those most invested in the health of the river, were not included in the planning process. . . . U6L7: Document B Source: Andrew J. Milson, “Rescuing Lake Maracaibo,” Water Resources, National Geographic Learning, 2014 . . .Venezuela’soil industry has crisscrossed Lake Maracaibo with about 15,000 miles of pipelines. “We say that the lake’s practically a plate of spaghetti with the quantity of pipes there,” says local historian Pedro Estrada. Unfortunately, many of the pipes are old, rusty, and leaking. In 2010, the leaky pipes released oil that washed up on Lake Maracaibo’s shores, harming fish and birds. Other sources of pollution are damaging the lake as well. About 500 companies dump waste into the lake’s tributaries, and the area’s inhabitants produce tons of sewage. Chemical runoff from farms also flows into the lake. Only about 20 percent of this waste, runoff, and sewage is treated before it enters the lake. . . . U6L7: Document C Source: Geography Theme Activities, Global Insights: People and Cultures, Glencoe/McGraw-Hill . . . Mexico City residents once viewed the forest of smokestacks and their congested highways with pride. They saw these developments as symbols of modernization and proof of a growing economy. In recent years, however, air pollution has begun to have a serious impact on their lives. Several times during 1992, for instance, Mexico City’s ozone level climbed well over the “very dangerous” point on the official index and remained there for days. Each time the government declared an emergency. Car use was restricted, and industries were required to cut back operations. One result of such events is that more and more people are beginning to equate the city’s factories and cars with environmental

destruction. . . . U6L7: Document D Source: Rylan Sekiguchi, “10,000 Shovels: China’s Urbanization and Economic Development,” Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, Stanford University, 2006 (adapted) . . . As in most countries, coal, another nonrenewable energy source, is the chief source of China’s domestic energy production. Coal has traditionally been China’s main source of energy, and even in 2006, it accounted for about 70 percent of China’s energy. China is the world’s largest producer and consumer of coal. It is abundant in China and is cheap compared with other sources of energy. Unfortunately, coal is also the “dirtiest” energy source, as it produces carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrogen oxides (NOx), sulfur dioxide (SO2), and methane—gases that contribute to global warming, air pollution, and acid rain. Indeed, China’s abundance of coal has contributed to its notorious air pollution: 16 of the world’s 20 most polluted cities are in China. Coal mines are also dangerous places for workers, especially in China, where more coal miners die each year than anywhere else in the world. The Chinese government has recognized the need to shift to renewable energy sources to sustain its energy growth and to minimize the environmental and health problems caused by relying on nonrenewable energy sources. Its Renewable Energy Law, which took effect on 1 January 2006, aims to ensure that 15 percent of China’s energy comes from renewable sources by 2020. Renewable energy comes from dams that harness water flow, windmills that channel energy, and solar panels that store energy from the sun. Unfortunately, wind power and solar power are still in the initial stages of development. They cost a lot to install, and they supply only a small fraction of China’s energy needs. Still, China has one of the world’s greatest wind energy potentials, a fact that the government acknowledged as it set an ambitious target of increasing wind power capacity to more than 23 times its 2005 level by the year 2020. . . . U6L7: Document E Source: “Japan’s Disposable Workers: Net Café Refugees,” Shiho Fukada, 2013 Amberly Polidor, “Ganges River,” Sacred Land Film Project online, February 1, 2004 The first time Fumiya, 26, spent a night at the internet cafe, other people’s snoring and footsteps kept him awake throughout the night. Since that sleepless night, ten months have passed and little noises like that no longer bother him. Once he got used to sleeping with a blanket over his face to block out the fluorescent lights that stay on through the night, he says living in an internet cafe is “not so bad.” Internet
cafes have been around in Japan for over a decade, but around the mid-2000s, a new type of internet cafe which people also use as the accommodations sprang up and people started living there. These internet cafes are equipped with a tiny private booth for guests, showers, and laundry service, with a reasonably priced package for overnight users. Fumiya started living at an internet cafe after he left his job with a dormitory. He looked for an apartment, but it was more than he could afford. He was initially renting a private booth for 12 hours just to sleep, but he soon realized that he could actually live there. For the internet cafe he lives in, Fumiya chose a discounted monthly package and pays 1,920 yen (U.S. $25) a day, which comes down to a monthly rent of about U.S. $750. Still, it is cheaper than renting an apartment because he does not have to pay for utilities. It is clean and offers unlimited free drinks, blankets, and cushions. The booth is partitioned by about 5.9 foot walls and a door, and Fumiya can enjoy his bathtub size privacy of a 5.9 foot by 3.9 foot space, which is big enough to sleep without bending his knees. He currently works 8 hours a day, 6 days a week as a security guard and makes about 230,000 yen (U.S. $2,900) a month. He says he needs about one million yen ($13,000) to pay for security deposits, realtor fees, and furniture for an apartment in Tokyo because a realtor usually asks for a lot of money in advance for people without a financial guarantor. Fumiya guesses it would take two to five years to save that much money. His job is too unstable to plan ahead as he doesn’t know when his job changes or where his next job would be. He says, “We need a place like an internet cafe. Without it, there would be many more people who have jobs but no homes.” According to the survey by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare in 2007, 60,900 people spent a night at an internet cafe at any given day and an estimated 5,400 people live there because they have no home. Out of these long-term users, 2,200 were unemployed and 2,700 people were irregular workers like Fumiya. Called “internet cafe refugees” by the media, they have drawn attention to the plight of irregular workers whose salary is not enough to pay for their own apartment. identify how dustrialiization and urbanization have contributed to social and environmental ills for all sources

Answer 1

Industrialization and urbanization have contributed to social and environmental ills in various ways:

1. Pollution: From the pollution of the Ganges River in India due to human and industrial waste, to the oil leaks in Lake Maracaibo in Venezuela caused by old and leaking pipelines, to the air pollution in Mexico City due to factories and car emissions, industrialization has led to the degradation of natural resources and ecosystems.

2. Health issues: Pollution from industrial activities and urbanization has resulted in water-borne illnesses in India, harmed fish and birds in Lake Maracaibo, and caused serious impacts on the health of residents in Mexico City due to high levels of ozone. This has led to a decline in the quality of life for people living in these areas.

3. Economic disparities: The case of internet cafe refugees in Japan highlights how industrialization and urbanization have created economic disparities, with irregular workers like Fumiya struggling to afford housing due to high real estate costs and the instability of their jobs. This has led to a situation where many people are unable to secure stable living conditions despite being employed.

Overall, industrialization and urbanization have brought about economic growth and development, but they have also resulted in social and environmental challenges that need to be addressed in order to ensure sustainable and equitable development for all.