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Description Although at first glance, economics should a distant concern when reading about the environment, it soon become apparent that they are most intimately linked. Of these many connections, four will be mentioned here. The first topic is poverty. Environmental destruction goes hand in hand with poverty. How this vicious circle starts can be very complicated. Jarred Diamond, in his book "Collapse", delves into the details of this. Many would brush off the fact that poorer countries do a worse job of preventing environmental degradation, and therefore are at their own mercy of their own negligence. But the truth is more complicated. In most cases, the land itself is extremely fragile. Combine this with an insecure political climate, and the devastation of erosion, crop ruination, and sometimes political upheavals and exodus we see on the news are the result. The second subject are government subsidies. Almost every industry puts their hand out for a few bucks or a tax break from the government. This occurs quite often in Europe and the United States. After the tragedies of September 2001, the airline industry was lined up in Congressional halls with a few days. It can be really frustrating for citizens who have to fork up more taxes over the years because corporations become less liable to paying taxes. A half a century ago, US corporations supported about 80 percent of taxes, with individual people paying the other 20. Now those numbers are reversed. Subsidizing costs Americans each $2000 per year per person! That's for each man, woman and child! The farm industry gets nice paycheck from Uncle Sam every year - about 50 billion dollars worth. The majority of this money goes to companies already with deep pockets. The era of the family farm gets shorter every year despite the fact they are supported by these subsidies as well. Flooding European and American farms with this extra cash inhibits global competition, leaving farmers in Africa, South and Central America without a market to export to. The third issue is driving the economy due to increasing efficiency throughout our infrastructure. There are those people who will contend that the economy will always be ay risk if ecological considerations are implemented in industry and in law. This has been proven incorrect time and time again. Making products less wasteful, more efficient and less toxic is beneficial to all people, all the time. These efforts drive the economy and provide more jobs than the status quo. The last issue to mention it that our economy tends to be at the mercy of its own side effects. The first example that comes to mind is global warming. The economy creates carbon dioxide, which in turns traps heat with the atmosphere. The we build more air conditioners, dam up river and do other things to battle the changing environment. These cycles have to be broken by innovation, buying more efficient products and electing more enlightened politicians. Helpful Websites
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