Global Economic Development: Transforming the World - Essay Sample

Introduction

The past three decades have seen a considerable increase in economic development across the world. The developments have made it possible for humans to build modern roads, fuel-efficient cars, and sophisticated technologies among other things. Moreover, economic development has made it possible for marginalized areas to globalize and be part of the global village. What is more, most underdeveloped countries have become industrialized thus providing employment to millions of people and raising their standard of life. The population explosion has also made it mandatory for states to embrace economic development to take care of the needs of additional people. However, the various economic developments have come at a gigantic cost to environmental sustainability. The market-driven global financial system creates incentives that result in ecological destruction (Harris & Goodwin, 2003). For instance, cutting down trees to pave the way for the development of housing units has resulted in the destruction of riparian land thus tampering with natural sources of water.

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Moreover, a factory that produces fertilizer may direct its waste down the river thus creating an externality. It is for these reasons that environmental conservationists have been calling for a halt in some development projects or a reconciliation of economic and environmental objectives in an attempt to save the natural earth from wanton destruction. In this light, this essay seeks to establish whether economic growth can go hand in hand with environmental sustainability.

Argument 1: Economic Growth and Environmental Sustainability Cannot Be Reconciled

On one end of the spectrum are staunch environmentalists who believe that as long as developed and developing countries continue to industrialize, the environment will continue to deteriorate. The developed nations have an economic development package that includes accumulation of capital equipment, increased energy use, technological and institutional innovations supported by a consumerist culture (Bingham, Blowers, & Belshaw, 2003). This package is presently being extended to other less developed nations in the name of globalization. However, environmentalists warn that if the current consumerist culture is not nipped in the bud, it will lead to an ecological catastrophe.

Energy Use and The Environment

Energy plays a central role in economic development. It is estimated that in the second half of the twentieth century, the global consumption of oil, coal, and gas quadrupled. Fossil fuels represent about 88 percent of commercial energy consumption. The other clean sources of energy such as nuclear, hydroelectricity, solar, wind and biomass cumulatively account for less than 8% (Bingham, Blowers, & Belshaw, 2003).

Additionally, recent projections for future energy use indicate that there has been a 59% increase in fossil fuel energy use since 1999 (Harris & Goodwin, 2003). While there have been relentless international efforts and campaigns geared towards reducing the consumption of fossil fuel energy, these efforts have been fruitless. For instance, in 2002, the World Summit on Sustainable Development promised to reduce fossil fuel consumption and supply the world economy with renewable sources of energy (Bingham, Blowers, & Belshaw, 2003). However, the resolutions of the summit did not see the light of day. More so, even if the summit were able to deliver 15% of renewable energy, it would not manage to reduce fossil fuel consumption which is the leading cause of global warming.

Transportation System and Automobiles

Even though a considerable number of governments are adopting the idea of electric cars, Fossil fuels are still the most preferred source of energy in the transportation sector. Industrialized nations can be considered to have reached saturation in automobile use. This fact notwithstanding, there is a high demand for vehicles in the developing world. For example, in Brazil, the ratio of cars to people is 1: 10.

Similarly, in India and China, there is one vehicle for every hundred people. The Chinese government has put measures in place to reduce the bicycle riding culture in favor of personal cars. The car culture has taken over cities and towns across the world (Bingham, Blowers, & Belshaw, 2003). The cars are the leading causes of traffic snarl-ups, congestion, pollution, and traffic accidents. Not to be forgotten are the materials used to make the cars, the physical space they occupy and the massive cropland that is cleared to pave the way for the construction of modern roads.

Greenhouse Gas Emissions

The burning of fossil fuels in oilrigs as well as in the transportation and industrial sectors pose the greatest danger to the ozone layer. In the same vein, carbon emissions result in global warming and climate change. Despite efforts made by international environmental organizations to curb carbon dioxide emissions, atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide continue to increase. For these reasons, the global surface temperature has increased thus resulting in a decrease in snow and ice cover and a rise in the sea level. A substantial body of evidence suggests that the increase in global temperature is attributable to human economic activities (Bingham, Blowers, & Belshaw, 2003).

Water

Presently, a third of the world's population is grappling with inadequate sources of clean water. It is estimated that in the next twenty years, the figure will be two-thirds of the world's population (Morris, Freeland, Hinchliffe, & Smith, 2009). In an attempt to ensure that more people can access clean water, governments have created dams and water reservoirs. Even so, reservoirs, although very useful, are sometimes causes of significant environmental changes. For instance, the creation of a reservoir leads to ecological changes both upstream and downstream. The gradient of the river may be reduced thus reducing the speed at which the river was moving causing sedimentation on the riverbed (Morris, Freeland, Hinchliffe, & Smith, 2009). This development affects plants and animal life. In other cases, dams may collapse thus causing loss of beings and animals as well as soil erosion.

Notably, human activity and population increase are the leading causes of water pollution. A case in point is River Thames. Before the onset of the nineteenth century, London residents use to take their buckets of sewage down to the river. Then, there was no substantial pollution since the water would clean itself naturally. However, as London continued to develop, flush sanitation systems were installed in houses. As a result, there was massive pollution of River Thames through the sewerage system (Morris, Freeland, Hinchliffe, & Smith, 2009). Despite efforts by the parliament to create and enforce legislation for the treatment of sewerage before discharge, the rapid growth of London in the first half of the twentieth century meant that the legislation would only have negligible effects on River Thames.

Argument 2: Economic Growth and Environmental Sustainability Can Be Reconciled

On the other end of the spectrum are mainstream economists who believe that economic development and environmental conservation can go hand in hand. They reason that there is no way the world can stagnate in terms of growth and development. Hence, the two objectives must be pursued concurrently.

Urban Development

Efforts have been made to ensure that cities meet the basic needs of residents while still conserving the environment. The rapid growth of cities has resulted in a strain on social amenities and a rapid increase in air pollution. In an attempt to curb urban sprawl, governments such as the United Kingdom have embraced Brownfield development. Brownfield is a term used to refer to "former industrial sites whose development is hampered by potential contamination" (Blowers & Hinchliffe, 2009). The UK aims to increase development in these sites. However, this raises concerns about the potential contamination of the land in question.

The other effective remedy against sprawl is industrial ecosystems. In an attempt to reconcile economic development and environmental objectives, Asnaes, the largest coal field in Denmark, began supplying heat generated from the facility to nearby homesteads thus replacing 3500 oil-burning heating systems (Blowers & Hinchliffe, 2009). More so, Asnaes began using gas instead of coal thus saving 30,000 of coal every year. Additionally, Asnaes desulphurized its airborne emissions yielding a byproduct that was sold for profit. What is more, the facility produces fly ash from its emissions, which is used to produce cement and construct roads. The surplus heat from the facility was also used to for warming a seawater fish farm and the sludge from the fish farm used as fertilizer. Hence, as much as Asnaes activities contributed to global warming, the facility also played a role in environmental sustainability.

Mexico City had once gained a reputation as one of the world's smoggiest cities. In response to this bad reputation, the town instigated a 10-year old air quality plan (Blowers & Hinchliffe, 2009). Some of the measures involved in the plan include banning high-emission vehicles, retiring old and roadworthy lorries, and limiting the hours that lorries and large trucks spent in transit. By the same token, the city required buses to use gas instead of petrol products and gave taxi drivers incentives to replace their old cars. The City experienced tremendous results from its efforts. Levels of smog, carbon monoxide, Sulphur-dioxide, carbon dioxide, and nitrogen dioxide were brought down considerably. Furthermore, the city oversaw the planting of eight million trees within 4,000km^2of the city (Blowers & Hinchliffe, 2009).

Regulation of Externalities

One of the most effective ways of making a company or a firm take responsibility for negative environmental externalities is to impose penalties or taxes that require the polluter to pay for the damage caused. Such taxes raise the costs of pollution. Hence, the firms have no option other than to reduce the amount they pollute.

Another effective way of dealing with pollution problems is using tradeable permits. Given that the government is the one responsible for issuing the permits, it can effectively control the amount of pollution by different firms and it can as well deny permits to firms whose emissions are beyond the allowed levels (Blowers & Hinchliffe, 2009). However, tradeable permits are also disadvantageous because of administrative costs, political resistance, and complexity. In most cases, existing standards tend to stand in the way of additional tradeable permits.

Discussion

As demonstrated in the two arguments, environmentalists and economists will never agree on the best way forward as far as the best way of saving the world from wanton destruction is concerned. However, it is evident that those in favor of the first argument make more sense than the ones in support of the second argument. While there have been efforts both at the local and international level to ensure that developers adhere to international environmental standards, most countries often find a way to go against environmental concerns in the name of development.

Through the years, there has been a myriad of environment conservation summits where protocols are initiated and agreements made. Individual countries have tried to implement the resolutions made in such summits. While getting an understanding is essential, different countries have different legal systems that are often used to create loopholes in international agreements in order for the states to unilaterally deviate from the resolutions of international summits. Most import...