‘In today’s world there are more reasons than ever to be an environmental optimist.’ Critically discuss.
5. ‘In today’s world there are more reasons than ever to be an environmental optimist.’
Critically discuss. In a modern, globalised society economists are becoming ever more optimistic about future environmental conditions and having the knowledge and resources available to overcome any issues, however, geographers are much more pessimistic and believe the world is in considerable danger of resource depletion. In this essay I will discuss how the optimists believe we will have the technological advancements to overcome any environmental issues and society will adapt too these accordingly but contrasting this view point are the pessimists who argue that development is seeing the movement of highly polluting industries from the developed world to the developing world and that resource scarcity and environmental quality need to be globally addressed.
For this essay I will define an environmental optimist as someone who believes resources and energy are getting less scarce over time, that the world’s food supply is improving, that pollution in the richer countries is decreasing and that population growth is evidence of economic success not human failure. I will define an environmental pessimist as someone who is concerned with the growing population, tropical deforestation, climate change, increasing air pollution in the developing world and the high use of non-renewable resources. Finally, I will identify a resource as something that is socially defined, they are changeable over time and a dependent on society’s needs and demands which in turn define their value, coal is an example of a resource that was high in demand in the mid 20th century in the UK, currently oil is an important resource on the global market that dictates levels of power to those countries rich in oil for example Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and Canada. As the demand for oil remains high, the price of oil continues to rise but as technology evolves and electric cars and motorbikes become more
Critically discuss. In a modern, globalised society economists are becoming ever more optimistic about future environmental conditions and having the knowledge and resources available to overcome any issues, however, geographers are much more pessimistic and believe the world is in considerable danger of resource depletion. In this essay I will discuss how the optimists believe we will have the technological advancements to overcome any environmental issues and society will adapt too these accordingly but contrasting this view point are the pessimists who argue that development is seeing the movement of highly polluting industries from the developed world to the developing world and that resource scarcity and environmental quality need to be globally addressed.
For this essay I will define an environmental optimist as someone who believes resources and energy are getting less scarce over time, that the world’s food supply is improving, that pollution in the richer countries is decreasing and that population growth is evidence of economic success not human failure. I will define an environmental pessimist as someone who is concerned with the growing population, tropical deforestation, climate change, increasing air pollution in the developing world and the high use of non-renewable resources. Finally, I will identify a resource as something that is socially defined, they are changeable over time and a dependent on society’s needs and demands which in turn define their value, coal is an example of a resource that was high in demand in the mid 20th century in the UK, currently oil is an important resource on the global market that dictates levels of power to those countries rich in oil for example Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and Canada. As the demand for oil remains high, the price of oil continues to rise but as technology evolves and electric cars and motorbikes become more