Environmental Challenges and Responses

One key area that is recently being addressed is to examine the possibility of coexistence of economic growth and sustainable environment. Gordon Brown, Britain’s Finance Minister states the benefits of having greener economies as

“Rising investments in new energy and environmental technologies can be the source future economic growth, jobs and exports. By 2010 the global environmental market- could be worth almost $700 billion, a sector as big as the successful aerospace or pharmaceuticals of today.”

Former Vice President of United States Al Gore has been a key proponent of environmentalism. His famous documentary “An Inconvenient truth” is a stark reminder of the realities that we might have to face if we don’t change our ways. We need to create awareness among the masses for the urgency in his regard. It cannot be tackled by any government on its own, or an individual or an NGO. It requires a collective will of people belonging to various segments of society to come together and in collective way.

Its not that the possibilities do not exist for diversion to greener sources of income. Brazil has been a shining example in this regard. The use of Ethanol as automobile fuel and its large scale applicability as emulated by Brazil can be used as a model by any country serious in curbing green house gasses. Al Gore proposes a system of grids for the generation and distribution of energy.

“In the industrialized world, these systems will require a newly designed distribution grid. An electranet or smart grid, will be flexible and allow home owners and businesses to sell or buy electricity on to or off the grid. It will allow individuals to monitor their consumption much as they monitor budgets and bank accounts today”

            Conclusion

Global warming is not a problem that has arisen overnight and it will certainly not be one which can be solved overnight. It requires collective and sustained effort on a global scale. The first step in that regard is to fully realize the urgency of tackling this issue head on rather than pushing it under the carpet. We need to re-evaluate our energy resource consumption patterns in light of our overall carbon footprint and the havoc it is bringing about to our environment. Our primary dependence on oil has to be addressed in this regard. Sheikh Ahmed Zaki, a former Saudi oil minister once stated

“The Stone Age came to an end not for a lack of stones, and the Oil Age will end, but not for the lack of oil.”

The oil age we are living in, is not indispensable but the environment we share, is.