The Environment’s Best Friend: Economic Growth
Did you know the air was getting cleaner before the first Earth Day in 1970? Indur Goklany writes,
Between 1957 and 1970, particulate matter concentrations in urban areas declined 15 percent, while sulfur dioxide concentrations peaked in 1963, declining 40 percent between 1962 and 1969.
Environmental diseases like malaria and typhoid decreased.
How could it be that people decided to improve their environment without a call to action from environmental groups or government edict? We got richer.
As the U.S. improved economically people no longer had to worry about making enough money to keep from starving and protected from the weather. With those needs satisfied people could move to satisfying desires that used to be luxuries. People got tired of smog-filled air, damaged lakes, and species near extinction. They reached a point where they could afford to protect their environment better. New technologies were employed to continue economic growth while reducing harm to the planet.
The battle between the environment vs. the economy doesn’t exist. People need to reach a level of economic prosperity to care about cleaning up the world around them. Economic growth, then, is key to improving the environment. Free trade, well-defined property rights, and the rule of law won’t just make the impoverished better off, more healthy, and longer-living. It will give them the resources and desire to improve the environment.
“On Earth Day, Remember The Humans”
[…] For Earth Day, Sean Hackbarth presents The Environment’s Best Friend: Economic Growth at The American Mind. […]