166
Y. Ren
2 The Principle of Sound Natural Environments Being
the Most Universally Beneficial Aspect of Public
Well-Being, and all People in Action to Build a Beautiful
China, and Relevant Laws in Environmental Sociology
The relationship between the environment and society and laws thereof are about the
impact of the environment on people’s production and life, people’s understanding
of, attitude towards, and behavior regarding the environment, as well as laws reflected
in the process.
In China, the relationship between the environment and society roughly evolved
through three stages. Before the 1980s, vegetation deterioration, soil erosion and
desertification had serious impact in some local regions, but environmental pollution
was not serious on the whole. In general, people’s top concern at the time was
food. They were indifferent to the environment. Some even had extreme thought that
socialist planned economy would not generate pollution to the environment in the
early 1970s.
In the mid- and late 1990s, public awareness of environmental protection gradually
improved and the public got more actively involved in environmental conservation
as people’s living standards were higher and public education programs were carried
out. Also, with the overall environmental condition deteriorating quickly, pollution
incidents and environmental emergencies in some places seriously affected people’s
production and everyday life, and some people realized the necessary of safeguarding
their environmental rights.
In the twenty-first century, particularly over the past 10 years, the relationship
between the environment and society showed three distinctive characteristics. First,
as China began to build a moderately prosperous society in all respects, the public
grew increasingly aware of environmental protection and regarded a sound environment part of a quality life. Shifting their focus from securing access to food and
shelter and survival to calling for a sound environment is a general law governing the
relationship between the environment and society. Second, apart from local water
and soil pollution, air pollution, mainly manifested by smog exerted serious impact
on people’s production and everyday life nationwide. The public was thus highly
dissatisfied with the environmental quality and the government’s efforts to protect
the environment. In the meantime, marked by the water pollution incident of the
Songhua River in 2005, China had entered a stage of frequent environmental emergencies. The public was more willing to safeguard their environmental rights and
many started to take concrete actions. Third, with the PX project incident in Xiamen
in 2007 as a landmark event, the public, dissatisfied with the situation of environmental pollution, became likely to react radically to construction projects that may
generate pollution. In other words, the Not in My Backyard phenomenon emerged.
Environmental problems generated serious influences on social and economic order,
and posed greater social risks.
China’s economic and social development underwent extensive adjustment in an
era of social media, featuring overlapping conflicts, and conspicuous information
Y. Ren
2 The Principle of Sound Natural Environments Being
the Most Universally Beneficial Aspect of Public
Well-Being, and all People in Action to Build a Beautiful
China, and Relevant Laws in Environmental Sociology
The relationship between the environment and society and laws thereof are about the
impact of the environment on people’s production and life, people’s understanding
of, attitude towards, and behavior regarding the environment, as well as laws reflected
in the process.
In China, the relationship between the environment and society roughly evolved
through three stages. Before the 1980s, vegetation deterioration, soil erosion and
desertification had serious impact in some local regions, but environmental pollution
was not serious on the whole. In general, people’s top concern at the time was
food. They were indifferent to the environment. Some even had extreme thought that
socialist planned economy would not generate pollution to the environment in the
early 1970s.
In the mid- and late 1990s, public awareness of environmental protection gradually
improved and the public got more actively involved in environmental conservation
as people’s living standards were higher and public education programs were carried
out. Also, with the overall environmental condition deteriorating quickly, pollution
incidents and environmental emergencies in some places seriously affected people’s
production and everyday life, and some people realized the necessary of safeguarding
their environmental rights.
In the twenty-first century, particularly over the past 10 years, the relationship
between the environment and society showed three distinctive characteristics. First,
as China began to build a moderately prosperous society in all respects, the public
grew increasingly aware of environmental protection and regarded a sound environment part of a quality life. Shifting their focus from securing access to food and
shelter and survival to calling for a sound environment is a general law governing the
relationship between the environment and society. Second, apart from local water
and soil pollution, air pollution, mainly manifested by smog exerted serious impact
on people’s production and everyday life nationwide. The public was thus highly
dissatisfied with the environmental quality and the government’s efforts to protect
the environment. In the meantime, marked by the water pollution incident of the
Songhua River in 2005, China had entered a stage of frequent environmental emergencies. The public was more willing to safeguard their environmental rights and
many started to take concrete actions. Third, with the PX project incident in Xiamen
in 2007 as a landmark event, the public, dissatisfied with the situation of environmental pollution, became likely to react radically to construction projects that may
generate pollution. In other words, the Not in My Backyard phenomenon emerged.
Environmental problems generated serious influences on social and economic order,
and posed greater social risks.
China’s economic and social development underwent extensive adjustment in an
era of social media, featuring overlapping conflicts, and conspicuous information