Response of Tierney's Article about Green Revolution in Energy - Essay Example

These include India and China such that they can implement cleaner energy sources that other developed states are using. Clean energy sources include natural gas and nuclear, which are currently in use in rich states though they have taken a long to reach this development stage, a trend that started with coal. This is because as states become richer, they start focusing on how to limit emissions of obnoxious air pollutants as well as cleaning water for their respective citizens.

 I do not agree that individual states should continue to pollute the environment as long as their economies are growing. This is because through their respective authorities these states can adopt clean, cheap, and even efficient energy sources, which are friendly to the environment like producing gas instead of coal or other related fuels whose emissions result in Greenhouse Gases. These states can also come up with effective processes meant to lessen the usage of traditional fuels and reduce their effluents, which in most cases end up disposed of in water bodies. Therefore, they do not have any viable reason to support their claims of contributing to environmental degradation in the name of enhancing or stabilizing their economies to equal those of developed states. Intentional pollution by these states while stabilizing their economies will only result in worse incidences that endanger their citizens’ lives besides prompting regimes to incur unnecessary expenses.

This is evident in China where over the recent years and even up to date the state records high levels of both air and water pollution. The latter is due to the uncontrolled and careless release of obnoxious effluents from industries that channel their waste into water bodies, especially in Beijing. Recently, environmental studies have confirmed all 37 Beijing Rivers' levels of contamination are beyond acceptable limits in terms of contamination. Consequently, this endangers the lives of approximately 70 million people who depend on these rivers for water, which comprise the region’s five major water systems.

Based on this rate of pollution, allowing states to contaminate the environment while trying to ensure intensive industrialization only results in pulling them downwards economically. This is because these states end up spending much money through their respective authorities on clean water bodies to obtain safe water for their desperate citizens. A colossal amount of money used to remove debris and other contaminants from these river regimes could have avoided them earlier by not allowing intentional pollution.

Water pollution in China has not only yielded to making water unsafe for people but also for aquatic life forms where the country currently experiences mass dying of fish in rivers. This is because of obnoxious pollutants from both industries and residential areas thrown in rivers.