Imagine you are sitting on a pile of money but you can’t breathe, the thick dusty air is clogging your windpipe; you have no clean water to use instead it’s just a dark, smelly liquid. That is what going to happen if you just concentrate on the economy and ignore the environment. However, it is believed that in order to have a clean environment, you will have to spend a lot of money. Factories can just dump their waste into the rivers. But to keep the water clean and clear, they have to install filter systems that worth around $800/filter. The government purchases hybrid buses even though they are so much more expensive because regular diesel buses to protect the environment and save the oil in the world. Keeping the environment clean seems costly at first but it will give back to the economy afterwards.
Industrialization has a great contribution on the growth of the economy but it also caused a lot of pollution which is the reason for global warming and climate changing. The sudden change in the weather has made it hard for farmers to plant crops. Droughts, fires, floods, hurricanes, are happening more and more often. According to Reuters, Indonesia had lost 300,000 tons of crop production every year between 1992 and 2000, three times the annual loss in the previous decade due to harsh weather conditions. (www.alertnet.org). For countries that rely on agriculture for their economy, they won’t have enough products to export therefore their economy will be slowing.
Another problem with air and water pollution is the price the companies have to pay due to health care and lost of workers. According to Jan Weaver, “EPA data show that 1 million tons of sulfur and nitrogen oxides in the air of a polluted city cause an average of 730 hospital visits and over 200,000 lost work days each year”. Not only do the companies lose their employees those days, but who will pay their hospital bill? Those companies are. They estimate that “the U.S. saves $7 in health care costs and in lost worker productivity for every $1 spent to take sulfur out of the air”(www.web.missouri.edu, New Clean Air Act Regulation Stink). Then why not spend money on protecting the environment and then benefit from it economically and enjoy a healthy life?
Global warming and climate change doesn’t only affect us but also future generations. Take action! Don’t just think of the present benefits, look further and imagine what it would be like in 50 years if the environment is ignored. I don’t think I want to know what it’s will be like.


Citations:
Jan Weaver: New Clean Air Act Regulation Stink! http://web.missouri.edu/~umcsnresiwww/news/Dec2002news.html

Indonesia losing crops, fish stocks to global warming
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/JAK84229.htm