Environmental Policy Essay

College Environmental Science
Environmental Policy Essay Environmental policies are necessary in order to protect our ecosystems and for us to remain sustainable. Being as environmental policy attempts to prevent harmful effects on the environment caused by human interaction as well as making sure that changes in the environment do not have harmful effects on humans, there are bound to be advantages and disadvantages resulting from these policies. Having the viewpoint of an economist, environmental policies should be limited in order for our economy to thrive on the ecosystem services. If we have the opportunity to increase our dollar income, shouldn’t we take it? This question comes up when our tunnel vision only allows us to see the positive outcome which in turn, neglects the environmental effects on such policy. Bringing up the Cranberry lake example, the majority of the class jumped to defend the preserved land from the construction of a new mall. We felt as if the land was put aside for a reason, and the disadvantage of installing another mall would be the pollution emitted, the deforestation of the preserve, the disruption of the ecosystems in the area, etc. The only advantage, we thought, would only be the economy boost from the rise in employment, product availability, and such convenience. A rising question was there balance between the two? Also, how would you decide which was a priority? As a class, we decided that by taking into consideration of how much our sustainability now is faltering, and that the land was already put aside, the environmental priority trumps economic support. According to Gandhi, “Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s needs, but not every man’s greed,” so in order to support our “greed”, or wants, our planet is suffering. Even though economic needs are important, but they are important to an extent. That extent is when they are compared to our environmental needs. Granted, policies limit substantial economic growth, but they don’t lower economic growth. What lowers growth is the depletion of resources,

Show More