Three Gorges Dam Research Paper

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The Chinese citizens living below the Three Gorges Dam are constantly in fear of their land being destroyed and submerged, and their culture being ripped away piece by piece, all caused by the rising waters of the nearly 600 foot tall dam. The Three Gorges Dam is multi billion dollar project that spans the Yangtze river, and is China 's largest project since the great wall. The dam will drive over 2 million villagers out of their homes and will demolish over 1,000 acres of farmland. The Three Gorges Dam is an overall unsustainable project that will affect millions of people socially and will hurt the environment tremendously.

The first reason as to why the Three Gorges Dam is an unsustainable project is because the dam is driving around 2 million Chinese people out of their homes, and will sweep away the hard work and and culture of the villagers. The Chinese villagers that are located on mountains surrounding the Yangtze river have been building their homes by natural resources for as long as the structures have been standing. These homes contain ancient manuscripts and artifacts that will soon be destroyed by the rising waters, and not only will …show more content…

Considering the social and economic unsustainability factors of the Three Gorges Dam, there are also various environmental reasons for the unsustainability of the project. The main motive of the Three Gorges Dam project was to be able to prevent floods that have killed thousands of citizens and has destroyed millions of homes, however the dam will flood over 1,000 acres of farmland and will obliterate over dozens of villages, causing 2 million Chinese people to evacuate their home. (China 's Mega Dam) The irony of this situation is that the problem that the dam is trying to fix, the mass floodings, is in fact making the situation worse by flooding more land, and once all of the land is underwater all of the structures and sewage will pollute the Yangtze river and could eventually cause backup in the dams