“Economic Development Cannot Ignore the Looming Ecological Crisis” to What Extent Do You Agree?

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Economic development is a term widely used by economists and politicians in the 20th century. As noted by O'Sullivan, A. and Sheffrin, S. M. (2003), “it includes the process and policies by which a nation improves the economic, political, and social well-being of its people”. Nowadays, people’s awareness of the massive ecological destruction caused by economic development has risen and scientists suggested that we must face the ecological crisis immediately in order to protect our planet. This essay will commence by explaining why economic development is causing the looming ecological crisis. It will go on to explain why people cannot ignore the ecological crisis. It will then discuss the possible ways to continue economic development in a sustainable way. Finally, it will conclude by explaining that although economic development is inevitable, we still need to take a balance between economic development and protecting the environment. First of all, there is no doubt that economic development stimulates the looming ecological crisis in different ways and the most obvious way is that economic development uses the scarce resources on Earth. According to Barbier E. B. (2003), “environmental resources should be viewed as important economic assets, which can be called natural capital”. Every gain must have its cost, and the cost of economic development is sacrifice of environmental resources. The most symbolic example would probably be deforestation. Since forestry is very common in modern activities, it can provide trees, the raw material to make paper product, and after the trees are cut down, the land can be used as fertile farmland or the development of new towns. Environmental resources can also be used for fossil fuels, since we cannot create it by ourselves, so it is a gift from the Earth. Fossil fuels are used widely nowadays as combusting fuel to provide energy.
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