Jan 02 2010
New Decade, Same Problems
The past two decades have been marred with political unrest, violence, and scandals, but then again, that has been the story of the human experience. It would be faulty and absurd to think that the upcoming decade will be any different. However, it would be premature and unfair to negatively categorize the upcoming decade with its past peers, so my positive theme for the upcoming decade: Green!
Despite the collapse of the politically-charged climate change summit in Copenhagen, there is still hope for the future of our environment. The Green Revolution is the new economy and it will be as revolutionary as the Internet was in the 1990s. Although carbon emissions taxes and carbon trading can be influential tools in reducing society’s carbon footprint, they are a barrier to economic growth, especially during an economic recession. There is clearly a market demand for energy efficiency and businesses and individual entrepreneurs are willing to act on this demand as long as the infrastructure and stimuli are provided by the government. If the environmental crisis is treated as a true crisis, then a significant stimulus should be planned, with OECD countries and cash-rich developing countries leading the way.
The other option is to wait for the political process to take its slow course. Specifically in the United States, politics has been a barrier to the alternative energy industry. The US government enacts alternative energy incentives on a temporary basis, which is very unattractive to long term investors and hurts the industry more than it spurs growth. Alternative energy can create jobs to both developed and developing countries and can be key in reducing conflict over other countries’ natural resources such as oil. A Green Revolution supported by stimuli is a feasible public venture and is necessary in order to bring the world out of an economic recession.
