On UK’s Air Pollution Management

With the development of society and economy,environmental issues,especially air pollution issues,have become much more pronounced.Being the first industrial country,Britain has dealt with air pollution for more than two centuries.This dissertation attempts to explore UK air pollution management(especially after the Industrial Revolution),and discuss the development in UK’s legislations,policies on firms,technology and environmental awareness of the public.Furthermore,the dissertation also discusses the problems of each aspect and attempts to estimate their development in the near future.This paper firstly elaborates on the air pollution problems before and after the UK joined the European Union,and also on the legislations and policies on air pollution during these two periods.A discussion of the efficiency of the legislations and their enforcement was made.It was believed that at the beginning of the 20th century,because of the weak enforcement of legislation,even though the emission of pollutants was clear in the law,Britain did not receive a better air quality as expected.Later after the UK joined the EU,the economy,society and people’s awareness of the seriousness of air pollution had all improved.Strict legislations and policies and their harsh enforcement on air pollution from the EU also helped British air quality to turn better.It then proceeds to analyze British policies on firms.It discusses the costs and benefits for firms,and the changes of the policies regarding them.It is claimed that the British government did not have a rigorous regulation on firms,and the penalties in the early days were not serious enough to arouse firms’ attention.Besides,from the early policies on firms,it can be can seen that most of the policies followed the pattern of "treatment-after-pollution".It only got better after the 1952 London Smog.Then,the paper discusses the changes of air quality that were brought by the development of technology,abandoning traditional energy and bringing in renewable energy,alongside the progress on road transport and the endeavors from the citizens,environmental groups and media.It is believed that citizens’ involvement,supervision from the media,development in technology and new energy and the national legislations have to cooperate with each other to promote the progress of air quality in the UK.The paper then discusses the lessons for China to learn from the British experience in air pollution management.It is believed that based on different times and backgrounds,China should not completely take British ways in dealing with air pollution.China should consider the status quo of the air pollution problem and also national conditions when perfecting legislations on air pollution in the future.Meanwhile,the Chinese government should ensure the enforcement of the legislation on air pollution and abandon the "treatment-after-pollution" strategy that both China and Britain have used.Prevention on air pollution should be treated with a more serious attitude from the government,and a more systematic air monitoring system should be built.Furthermore,the Chinese government should encourage people and media to take part in protecting clean air and supervising air pollution along with the government.