Environmental Policy in Harmony with the U.S. Economy - Coursework Example

Environmental Policy in Harmony with the U.S. Economy - A Future Vision of the and number submission Environmental Policy in Harmony with the U.S. Economy - A Future Vision Abstract This paper discusses how the world, USA in particular, is utilizing its limited natural resources. The natural resources are scarce and will soon be depleted. This paper discusses the possible steps and policies the U.S can develop and implement in order to conserve its natural resources, while not affecting the economic activity. The paper discusses various alternative methods and they can be implemented, for example, through subsidies, laws, etc. The advantages and disadvantages of these policies have also been highlighted along with the global impact as well. What policy steps/options/instruments must be enacted in the U.S. so that the current economic system (free market [growth] capitalism) and level of comfort (goods and services) can be maintained without depletion of all natural resources, total loss of natural diversity and a gross reversal of the level of pollution control that has been achieved in the last four decades of environmental policy development and implementation”. Introduction: The worlds natural assets, like: coal, gas, oil, etc, are limited, which implies that on the off chance that we continue to utilize them for personal and commercial gains, these resources will run out and earths reserves of these resources will deplete. In the last a few hundreds of years people have been progressively utilizing the moderately recently gained power, particularly our socially advanced technologies, to exhaust the natural resources of Earth, specifically its profound, rich farming soils; its groundwater stored amid ice ages; and its biodiversity, while ignoring the consequences of this activity 1. The United States, the world’s monetary and military superpower, entered the modern period with an about unparalleled enrichment of natural assets that incorporated a wealth of: forests, water, topsoil, and minerals, as well as of oil, coal, and natural gas. Like all different countries, the U.S. has approached asset extraction utilizing the low-hanging natural product rule. Today its major coastal reserves of oil are generally exhausted, and the countrys aggregate oil generation is around more than 40 percent from its top in 1970, notwithstanding immense revelations in Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico. Its aggregate coal assets are limitless, yet rates of extraction most likely cant be expanded altogether and will probably start to decay inside the following decade or two. Eccentric hydrocarbon assets, (for example, characteristic gas freed by the hydro fracking of shale stores) are starting to be marketed, yet accompanied high venture costs and troubling ecological dangers. U.S. extraction rates for some minerals have been declining for quite a long time or decades, and as of now the country imports 93 percent of its antimony, 100 percent of its bauxite (for aluminum), 31 percent of its copper, 99 percent of its gallium, 100 percent of its indium, over a large portion of its lithium, and 100 percent of its uncommon earth min 2. Steps to conservation Both, economic growth and development clearly include changes in the physical biological system. Each biological system all over the place cant be safeguarded in place. A backwoods may be exhausted in one piece of a watershed and developed somewhere else, which is not a terrible thing if the misuse has been arranged and the consequences for soil disintegration rates, water administrations, and hereditary misfortunes have been considered. All in all, renewable assets like woodlands and fish stocks require not be exhausted given the rate of utilization is inside the cutoff points of recovery and regular development. Be that as it may most renewable assets are a piece of a mind boggling and interlinked biological community, and greatest supportable yield must be characterized in the wake of considering framework wide impacts of abuse 3. This helps to highlight the fact that, even though with abundance of natural resources, that USA is utilizing its natural resources at such an accelerated pace that these resources will soon become exhausted and will run out, creating a resource crisis throughout the globe 4. This creates the need for developing policies which would allow the US economy to function normally, in a manner which would allow the substitution of the natural resources in order to preserve them. This can be done by: formulating policies of sustainable development, using renewable alternative energy resources and use of bio fuels. Sustainable Development Sustainable advancement is improvement that addresses the issues of the present without trading off the capacity of future eras to address their own issue. Development includes a dynamic change of economy and society. An advancement way that is reasonable in a physical sense could hypothetically be sought after even in an inflexible social and political setting. Anyhow physical manageability cant be secured unless improvement strategies pay consideration on such contemplations as changes in access to assets and in the conveyance of expenses and profits. Indeed the thin idea of physical manageability suggests sympathy towards social value between eras, a worry that must intelligently be stretched out to value inside every era 3. In order to implement and utilize sustainable development and protect its natural resources, the U.S can implement RECH Regulations, WEE and ROHS Regulations, like the ones being implement in Europe 5. These can help the country to protect and monitor the effects of commercial activity on the human, natural and ecological system of the country. In this manner, the utilization of natural resources can be monitored and controlled, as well as the effects. However, it is important that sustainable improvement should likewise be congruous. In any event, a certain measure of social union must exist on a planetary scale to make the conditions for the peace we require. Significant contrasts between the circumstances of monetary players are wellsprings of pressure and clash. The North/South financial partition and the unequal appropriation of the utilization of the planets regular assets between the worlds populaces are outstanding potential reasons for pressure 5. Ecological changes are also a challenge that sustainable development faces. Changes in the amount of quality of natural resources available to a country can vary and can affect the development process. Alternative Energy Resources Another method which can be utilized to control the exhaustion of U.S’s natural resources is the use of alternative and substitutable resources. Use of coal and gas can be replaced with the use of wind, hydro or solar methods of generating power for utilization by industries and households 6. A major benefit of using alternative methods of energy generation is that the resources required are infinite and cheap to access. However, each method of alternative energy generation has an associated problem that can hinder the process. For example, solar energy can be hindered by poor weather, hydro energy generation can be hindered by low water volumes or dry spells; and wind energy generation can be affected by low wind power or no wind at all. Another problem with these methods are that they very costly. The U.S government should take necessary steps to implement this, since the country has deserts spread on massive scales, the country can benefit from solar energy. Such energy generation methods should be subsidized and made mandatory for industries and power generation plants. This will not only aid in protecting and preserving natural resources, but will also help in conserving monetary reserves in the future for the U.S government. Bio Fuels Another step that can be taken to prevent the natural resources reserves of the U.S is by limiting the extraction of oil and implementing tariffs and quotas on the import of oil. Fuels that have been removed from plants and harvests are known as bio fuels. Of these, the most normally separated and utilized one is Bioethanol or just Ethanol and Biodiesel. It is mixed with fuel and the utilization of bio fuels is gradually getting on. Plant based energizes comes structure renewable source, can be become anyplace and have lower carbon discharges when contrasted with fossil powers 10. The development of Bio-oil should be subsidized and promoted. This will not only help to conserve the natural reserves but will also be less damaging to human health and the environment. Bio fuels are likewise excluded from fuel charge, which spares around five pennies every liter for an E10 mix. As unadulterated ethanol costs more than petrol on an equal vitality premise, the tax cut helps keep the expense of ethanol-mixed fuel cutthroat 7. Bio fuels are adaptable to current motor outlines and perform extremely well in many conditions. This keeps the motor running for more, obliges less upkeep and cuts down general contamination check costs. With the expanded interest of bio fuels, they have a capability of getting to be less expensive in future also. Thus, the utilization of bio fuels will to a lesser extent a channel on the wallet 10. However, problem with bio fuels is that they consist of less energy producing capability in comparison to normal petrol. For example, one liter of ethanol contains around 67% of the energy of a liter of mineral petrol, which implies the more bio fuel will be needed to cover the same distances. Along these lines, a liter of 10% ethanol-petrol mix contains around 96.7% of the vitality of a liter of routine mineral fuel, significance you could hope to devour around three percent more fuel 7. Counter-argument of these policies Sustainability turns into an issue of how to maintain the monetary capacities of the earth as opposed to how to support nature. Furthermore this implies that feasible improvement may check the most exceedingly bad examples of natural debasement when they are predicted however in the occasion of a conflict in the middle of monetary and ecological objectives, financial objectives will outweigh everything else 8. The different businesses and representatives who produce the gear utilized as a part of power generation, and in addition the bunch other parallel organizations who rely on upon the current systems for energy creation, will all be at risk when the new energy generation system is adapted. This will make it an exceptionally troublesome issue politically. In the meantime, a lot of exertion and cash would need to be consumed keeping in mind the end goal to change the current framework to oblige fresher energy sources 9. It must also be added that alternative energy production methods are expensive to adapt and maintain 9. A disadvantage of bio fuel, as mentioned earlier, is that it contains less energy in comparison to normal fuel. Bio fuels are also expensive to produce. Bio fuel is made of fertilizers which can harmful as this can pollute nearby water supplies 10. Global Effects If the U.S is successful in incorporating methods of natural resource preservation, while keeping the level of economic activity and standard of living of people at the same level, then these policies can have major global effect. The use of sustainable development can allow preservation of natural resources as well as methods to exclude factors which cause substantial financial inequalities. These policies will be adopted by developing nations, where levels of financial inequalities are high, and can help to improve the economic conditions. Development of constant supply of energy from alternative resources will help to lower global pressure on major oil producing companies. This will help to decrease interdependence of economies for the trade of oil and can help to liberate countries from debts arising due to massive oil export. In the long run, these policies can help countries to create cleaner environments and save on power budgets which can be utilized elsewhere for the welfare of people. Conclusion With the growing excess utilization of scarce the natural resources, the time of their exhaustion and depletion is close and inevitable. For the U.S, which is a major economic hub, it is important to develop strategies and policies to discover and implement other methods to carry out economic activities without depleting natural resources. Using alternative energy production methods and the use of bio fuels can aid U.S in catering to the major chunk of energy and oil crisis. This will help in preserving the limited remaining natural asset reserves and carry out activities through methods which are less damaging, to both: the people and the environment. The government should subsidize and support industries involved in the development of these methods and should fund research and development of such projects. These resource conservation methods will not only help to produce better replacements of natural resources but will also aid in job creation, thereby improving the economy. However, structural unemployment may occur during the periods the old methods are being forgone to adapt new methods. The development of these methods and policies can also have a global effect, other countries will be encouraged to follow and create a bandwagon. These bandwagons will everyone involved and will help to create a cleaner and safer environment. References 1. E360.yale.edu. Too Many People, Too Much Consumption by Paul R. Ehrlich and Anne H. Ehrlich: Yale Environment 360. 2008. Available at: http://e360.yale.edu/feature/too_many_people_too_much_consumption/2041/. Accessed February 23, 2015. 2. Carbon P. Natural Resource Depletion and the Changing Geopolitical Landscape. OilPricecom. 2012. Available at: http://oilprice.com/Geopolitics/International/Natural-Resource-Depletion-and-the-Changing-Geopolitical-Landscape.html. Accessed February 23, 2015. 3. Un-documents.net. Our Common Future, Chapter 2: Towards Sustainable Development - A/42/427 Annex, Chapter 2 - UN Documents: Gathering a body of global agreements. Available at: http://www.un-documents.net/ocf-02.htm. Accessed February 23, 2015. 4. Jowit J. World is facing a natural resources crisis worse than financial crunch. the Guardian. 2008. Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2008/oct/29/climatechange-endangeredhabitats. Accessed February 23, 2015. 5. Legrand.com. Sustainable development: definition, background, issues and objectives. Available at: http://www.legrand.com/EN/sustainable-development-description_12847.html. Accessed February 23, 2015. 6. Conserve-Energy-Future. Alternative Energy Sources - Solar, Wind, Geothermal, Biomass, Ocean and other energy sources. 2013. Available at: http://www.conserve-energy-future.com/AlternativeEnergySources.php. Accessed February 23, 2015. 7. Aa.co.nz. Fuel Duel - Mineral Fuels vs. Bio-blends | AA New Zealand. Available at: http://www.aa.co.nz/membership/aa-directions/driver/fuel-duel-mineral-fuels-vs-bio-blends/. Accessed February 23, 2015. 8. Uow.edu.au. Politics of Sustainable Development. Available at: http://www.uow.edu.au/~sharonb/esd/alternatives.html. Accessed February 23, 2015. 9. Glenn D. 3 Reasons Why We Havent Switched to Alternative Energy. Mother Earth News. 2014. Available at: http://www.motherearthnews.com/renewable-energy/why-not-switch-to-alternative-energy-zbcz1401.aspx. Accessed February 23, 2015. 10. Conserve-Energy-Future. Advantages and Disadvantages of Biofuels - Conserve Energy Future. 2013. Available at: http://www.conserve-energy-future.com/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-biofuels.php. 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