The economic and social origins of ecological problems and control countermeasures: taking the American “Dust Bowl” incident as an example

The contradiction between the socio-economic development and environment is getting more prominent in China. However, the targeted solutions are still in absence because of our ignorance about the economic and social causes of ecological problems. The effect of ecological control is usually temporary, and ecological incidents occur frequently. To seek for possible solutions, we investigated the driving factors of ecological problems in depth by analyzing the "Dust Bowl" event in America and systematically summarized the effective control measures. As a result, the ecological problems are external manifestation of the social economic system′s internal conflicts, and essentially resulting from the improper profit-seeking activities of people. The governmental regulation usually lags behind the development of economic society and ecological problems which provides the objective conditions for deterioration of environment. The problems also break out and spread with the help of out-dated ecological control technology which can hardly meet the need of the development of society and economy. Therefore, to solve these problems effectively, we should put stress on appeasing the contradiction of the economic social system. The legal and policy measures should be taken to restrain people′s destructive activities and protect the benefit and right of stakeholders. The development, application, and popularization of new technology should be guided and supported. The economic transition must be promoted to build efficient and environmental-friendly economic patterns.