Calculation and analysis on the eco-environmental pressure from residents′ living consumption in the progress of rapid urbanization: a case study on Jiangyin City, Jiangsu Province
Abstract:One cause of the increasingly serious environment problem in China is residents’ improving living consumption, which not only brings waste water, garbage and other environmental negative effects directly, but also is the ultimate causation of eco-environmental pressure as the one main part and the fundamental drive of social reproduction. The paper defined the concept of Environmental-consumption of Population (EcP), theoretically reasoned what factors may impact the EcP based on the theory of ecological footprint, and tested the multiple linear regression model using the panel data from 1997 to 2004 for the Jiangyin City, Jiangsu Province. Moreover, EcP per capita was calculated for urban and rural residents separately. Then the modeling results were extrapolated to year 2010 and 2020 for the urban and rural residents respectively. The software, SPSS 14.0 was used for the analysis. The study found, the urban residents′ per capita EcP rose from 1.395hm2 in 1997 to 1.960hm2 in 2004 with an annual increase of 0.081 hm2, comparing with 1.345 hm2 in 1997 and 1.465 hm2 in 2004 with an annual increase of 0.017 hm2 for rural residents. Statistically significant effects of the following variables, per capita disposable income, engle coefficient, years of schooling, per capita GDP were found on the urban & rural residents′ EcPs. By year 2010, the expected per capita EcP for urban and rural residents were 2.258 hm2 and 1.919 hm2 respectively while the numbers would increase to 2.807 hm2 and 2.303 hm2 by 2020, which would bring great stress on the environment and result in large ecological deficit. This paper also revealed that the growing consumption and rural to urban migration exerted stress on the regional eco-system. Without sufficient infrastructure for waste disposal and treatment to accommodate the adaptation to an urban life style, the rapidly increasing urban population and their consumption have become incompatible with sustainable development goals. Thus, we must take measures to control the progress of urbanization and to strive for a urbanization and life style that are characterized by environmentally friendly living and consumption.