The Environment

Though nowadays it is more and more often claimed that humanity can develop without causing damage to nature, there still exist strong opposing arguments to this thesis. Development assumes economic growth, and economic growth is impossible without industry, which needs energy resources. Nowadays, the range of goods, required by common people, has expanded significantly, compared to the old times. People feel the need, not only for some primary things, such as a piece of bread and a roof over their heads, but also, for various facilities and luxuries. Providing humanity with these things involves the exploitation of natural resources. In turn, the conventional sources of energy we use today cause pollution, so economic growth is almost inevitably associated with environmental damage.

One of the aspects of economic growth which affects the environment most of all is that, in order to produce more goods and products, at a faster rate, the construction of large industrial plants is required. These enterprises generate a lot of waste in the form of liquid waste and gaseous fumes. The liquid waste is frequently dumped in fresh water bodies, while the gaseous fumes are released into the atmosphere. The liquid waste leads to the pollution of water, damaging the aquatic ecosystem (Mary, 2007). The gaseous fumes pollute the atmosphere, which may cause negative, long term, health effects to nearby populations of animals, or people. They also lead to the degradation of the ozone layer, which is one of the main reasons for the acceleration of global warming.

The conventional energy sources, that are commonly used, nowadays, are considered to be the greatest polluters of the environment, and intensive rates of industrial manufacturing lead to the constantly increasing energy consumption. One might say that the solution lies in the usage of so-called non-conventional sources of energy, such as tidal, geothermal or wind energy. They are preferred due to their environment