Technology and Industrial development: Towards sustainability
Environmental concern is a hot topic today, where most schools and papers often revolve around this topic of sustainability and environmental protection. It is such a hot topic because it is a very real issue yet government do not take serious or concrete actions to strive towards sustainable development.
Why so? It is simply because our world is driven by economic growth. No countries, especially developed countries want to slow down their growth and lose their competitive advantage for the sake of protecting the environment because that will mean giving up their global leadership. Today, the strongest economy has the most say in the world.
However much we deliberate on possibilities of win-win situation where we can both be sustainable yet profitable, while they are ideal, they are not applicable in most cases. For example, if we require China to reduce its production of greenhouse and toxic gas, it will mean a great deal of it coal factories are going to be left worthless. More importantly, they will have to sacrifice cheap electricity from coal burning when they upgrade to oil or natural gas. That will result in loss of competitive advantage of cheap manufacturing in China and the engine of growth for China. Why would China want to sacrifice its own growth for the sake of the environment when it can end up benefiting its competitors more than itself?
In harsh words, no country is willing to be the first sucker to sacrifice itself for the greater good of mankind’s future. Unless the entire world is to change together simultaneously, no one is going to start doing it. Yet, when recession strikes, the first to go are always these sustainability plans, just like how Obama decided to withdraw its smog limits because it hurts business. Competitions between countries are stiff and are not likely to change anytime soon, thus the future for sustainability is really bleak in my opinion. Unless we come to a desperation point where the world is truly running out of oil and non-renewable resources, I doubt there will be much progress in sustainable development.
However, the silver lining is there are alternatives which are not totally sustainable or green but can act as a bridging process. One such example is nuclear. Nuclear is risky and hazardous and naturally, we will want to avoid it. Yet, it is cheap energy and can fuel growth while truly green sources such as solar and wind energy catch up to fully develops its potential. Nuclear technology is already existent and efficient as compared to other renewable sources, thus a good alternative while we try to salvage the Earth as fast as we can, rather than we wait until the desperation point.
Furthermore, when a country is over-reliant on nuclear, accidents such as the Fukushima accident will force the government and industry sense of urgency to find reliable alternatives. Thus, I personally believe we should not shy away from nuclear just because it is dangerous because it is a pragmatic approach to creating a sustainable future. Rather than hoping the renewable energy sources can develop quickly, the world should adopt current technologies and start making changes today.
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