Industrial Growth And Environmental Preservation.
If you are reading this then definitely you know the importance of environmental preservation. Industrial growth is also important for the Economic growth. How is industrial growth and environment preservation related? — If we check the data of real world we understand they are inversely related. When industrial growth goes up environment’s purity goes down, this can happen due to different reasons. One of key inspiration to study and write about this is a video I recently watched. This opened my vision.
What is Environmental Economics?
Economics is a subject that studies the choices and constrains between needs and resources or simply ends and means. Now there is Environmental Economics. Economics not only studies of distribution and production but also about conservation. Environmental Economics mainly concerned with environmental conservation. This is quite fascinating as Industries are one of the key elements of Economic growth, but increase in number of industries is definitely threat to the environment. It is now filter down to the question whether Economic growth or Environment.
Industries help in Economic growth still economic development remains as a question. So, the main difference between growth and development is that growth only ensures income increase whereas development examines income increase as well as standard of living. When the environment’s purity decreases the life expectancy, health and skill of people living there eventually decreases, this ends up in pulling down economic growth as well. On other hand, Industrial growth can lead to infrastructural development; this can open many job opportunities. New jobs help to fill the pocket with income, rise in income wind up savings and investment boosting capital formation. These all will eventually help in Economic growth. Still economic development is to be examined.
The negative effects of industries are more than our assumptions. The first and most important effect of industries to the environment is pollution. Pollution is one the scariest word today, especially during this time of pandemic. Carbon dioxide emission, Ozone depletion, Global warming, Climatic change, Water scarcity and spread of diseases are all by products of pollution. Industries are the root cause of pollution. Many countries started charging carbon taxes to end this unchecked and hasty act of industrial owners. Pollution is of many types including water pollution, which is the most dangerous. The amount of clean water is decreasing at a pace that one out of three of the total population of world is drinking unhygienic water. Not only clean water crisis but almost all water bodies are getting filled up with industrial waste.
Tragedy of commons is another problem. It highlights the conflicts between individual and collective rationality. Suppose a person chooses to use his own personal vehicle instead of public transport system, this act results increase in pollution and scares for gas or fuel. Another person who uses public transport will also get affected by that decision. This concept was made popular by Garret Hardin (1915–2003) using the example of grazing cattle in a common field. The cattle owner who brings larger number of cattle will be rewarded more whereas the total return from the field decreases for others. This ends up in race between them with common result-everyone loses.
Market failure can also happen if there is no proper environmental preservation. Labours who are exposed to pollution are affected by diseases more often; loss of skilled labour increases the production cost and price of product. On the other hand, due the toxic outcome of polluted environment can result in health degradation. As the number of consumers affected by health issue enlarge the demand for goods decreases resulting in market failure. The collapse of markets during the spread of pandemic is an example for us.
Negative externalities are the cost that is suffered by a third party as the consequences of an economic transaction. One chooses to use cooler which is cheap, which is made by industries without much preservation so they gets more profit. The pollutants and CFC produce can result in Ozone depletion. This can affect a third person who is not directly involved in this transaction. Usually affects the poor, not always the ones who enjoys the perks of industrial growth. These negative externalities are also a challenge for environmental preservation.
It is high time that actions should be taken to stop this disaster. Economic and industrial growth is important but environmental preservation is a necessity for life existence.
Country (Government), Crowd (Common people), Cooperates (Industrial owners) are the major ones who can find a solution for this problem. Most of the countries are addressing the problem of economic preservation now because it has cross the limits.
‘Sustainable Development’ is a tool which can be used to overcome this problem. It is the best solution for this headache. Sustainable development is a development in which the present generation meet their present needs without compromising the ability of the future generation to meet their needs. Thus choosing eco-friendly products we can bring changes. Small act of everyone comprises to become a huge wave against environment degradation.