Family Environmental History
March 8, 2023 By: Yang Ni
Political, economic, and social factors and changes in lifestyle and behaviour influence my family environment history. My family ties back to mainland China, where we followed and obeyed Chinese traditions. Family is always unified, where it is the responsibility of each family member to act in good faith with regard to each other hence enhancing team works towards achieving the family’s goals. My family is highly inclined to nature through the concept of “feng shui,” which aligns with natural energy to enhance prosperity and health. Our culture values family unit where the eldest male member is the head of the family; hence, in this article, I will focus on the history of my grandfather and my father since their heads of the family are based on Chinese customs and traditions.
My grandparents constructed their houses facing south to maximize the sun’s warmth and light since there was no electricity in rural places. During their era, there was no piped water running in houses; hence they used to get domestic water by drilling a well or living in new water bodies like a lake, river, or sea. Since there was no extensive use of the chemical around the farm, the domestic water was pure and safe for drinking. In the rule places, firewood was the most common energy source for lighting up, warming, or cooking in the kitchen. My grandparents depended on entries in their ecosystem to provide them with their basic needs and wants. The primary role of the family head was to provide food and security, which were readily available during my grandfather’s era.
My father was born and brought up during the Cultural Revolution timeline. After completing his basic education, he was enrolled in an oil extraction company in China Mainland, where he was exposed to land, air, and water pollution. Due to this time, technological innovation and globalization changed the family structure and environmental attitudes due to increased rural-urban migration. After World War II, the rise of environmental movements led to the scaling up of awareness of environmental issues and changes in policy. Technological innovation brought about lifestyle changes, like the introduction of chemical farming and the use of automobiles, which contributed to climatic degradation due to population.
The Cultural Revolution recorded the great destruction of cultural and historical artifacts, which had severe environmental consequences. By opening up China to foreign investors, there was a shift from heavy industry towards light industries like the manufacture of electronics that had little environmental impact. Due to the high population and increased number of economic activities, in the 21st century, China became the leading carbon gas emitter that negatively impacted climatic change, resulting in rising sea levels, water, and food insecurity. Regarding environmental protection, my family started to adopt stricter environmental regulations and invest in renewable energy sources rather than depending on fossil fuels.
My grandfather could consume domestic water directly from the water sources, but my father could not since the air, water, and air pollution had contaminated the environment. In the past, there was a predictable weather pattern; hence my grandfather was able to plan their farming regime, which ensured food and water security. Even if the food was not produced on a large scale, the food chain was well balanced. My father graduated from using firewood to fossil fuels as energy sources, this kind of change resulting in significant environmental degradation. As the population increased, the demand for food increased, leading to the use of chemicals during farming. Increased human activities led to deforestation; therefore, no firewood as the energy source.
Living in Canada exposed me to a new lifestyle that was completely different from what was experienced by my grandfather and my father while they were living in China. Technological advancements have enabled me to capture the consequences of climatic change. My generation is committed to protecting the environment by obeying the Canadian government’s laws, policies, and regulations. My generation has extensively utilized science and technological innovations to research alternative, environmentally friendly energy sources. This has seen significant improvements in the solar, wind, hydro, biomass, geothermal, and tides energy sources. Compared to my father’s generation, our current generation’s automobile engines are designed to maximize fuel burning, leading to less carbon being produced. On the other hand, now that more and more brands are producing electric cars, many environmental activists will choose to buy electric cars as their daily means of transportation. It is worth mentioning that, in order to support environmental protection, my family also has an electric car, which can reduce a lot of carbon emissions in daily travel. My generation has all the resources and capacity to change the environment and restore it to the better conditions in which my grandfather found it. In this era, it is still possible to fuel the economy the energy sources that have no negative impact on the ecosystem.