Economic activity has a direct impact on the environment. The more the economic activity the greater is the impact. Faster, a nation's GDP grows, faster is the degradation of the forests, wild animals, rivers, seas, climate and of course, traditional communities and societies. From the tme Europe, Australia, US and Japan started on the path of tremendous economic progress much of the natural habitats started vanishing in these countries. Whatever little is remaining is maintained with tremendous efforts. Same thing can be said about China and India. The economic growth of these countries are being achieved at a huge cost to the environment.
In today's world, higher standard of living is typically associated with material possession and consumption. What every individual purchases, consumes, uses and disposes is a function of affordability. The cost of a product ultimately decides what people buy and get used to. Similarly the number of things that people buy is a function of how much money they possess. As this pattern of material possession and enjoyment has a direct impact to the enviornment, environmental protection cannot happen without relooking at the underlying economics that dictates most of our daily life activities.
One cannot drive in a big expensive car everyday and work for environmental protection. How is the car manufactured? How much energy was spent for its manufacturing and how much is being spent for its usage? How much of natural habitats have been sacrificed for oil wells, transportation, factories, showrooms, roads and parking areas meant for the cars? How much does a car cost? How was the money for buying the car generated? How much enviornmental impact is associated with earning this money?
Car is just an example and probably the one that spikes out among others. Similar questions can be asked about every product that is used.
There are a lot of environmental movements towards conservation of forests and animals. There are a lot of voices being raised against global warming, melting of polar ice caps, pollution, etc. However why is it that the environmental degradation continues to worsen?
There are also many movements for promotion of environmentally friendly products. "Bio" products are a big fashion. However why is it that they have not become main stream products and occupy a niche in the society?
It boils down to underlying economics. Majority of the people buy and adopt things that are relatively cheaper among the available options. "Bio" products are expensive and hence they cannot become mainstream. Living an enviornmentally friendly life is more "expensive" than the norm in a developed society and hence it cannot become mainstream!
Thus environmental protection and economic policies have to go hand-in-hand in order to see any visible impact. As long as economic policies are dictated by only money and profits, it is unlikely that anything significant can change w.r.t. environment.
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