Discuss whether it is possible to have economic growth without environmental damage.

Discuss whether it is possible to have economic growth without environmental damage.

Since the emergence of the concept of corporate social responsibility alongside a much recent concept of sustainable development, there has been a heated debate among scholars, investors, policymakers and other stakeholders on whether economic growth can be achieved without any environmental damage. While environmental degradation is a significant challenge when addressing matters economic growth, this paper holds that the compatibility between the competing goals of economic growth and environmental protection can be achieved through resource sharing and sustainable economic growth that limits environmental damage through social considerations.

Beginning in the 1960s and 1970s, contenders in the debate of economic growth and environmental protection recognized the need for rapid economic growth that was necessary to sustain the ever-increasing global population. It was also clear that the needed economic growth could not be achieved without eliciting a damaging blow on the environment. As a matter of fact, (Beder 50) argues that there is no possibility of leaving out the question of the environment when considering economic growth as a factor in human development since its growth cannot be achieved without creating a dent to the environment in which all the economic growth takes place. Beder (55) however reiterates that economic growth cannot be done away with for the sake of the environment since the social imperatives behind such move would far outweigh the ethical implications that provide philosophical basis for protecting the environment.

Another argument that makes sense in the debate relates to pollution. And this comes in multi-perspective form. First, economic growth entails processes of resource use and waste generation. Dereliction on natural resources can wreck uncontrived damage to the physical environment by either changing the physical geography of the environment or introducing a strange climate to it. Secondly, the used resources create shortages of the very resources needed to deal with pollution. Theodore Panayotou, while bringing in the argument of pollution, argues that even though it might not be possible to completely eliminate environmental degradation when pursuing economic growth, the country in question must be evaluated on the basis of whether it is developed or developing because developed nations should be able to almost completely eliminate environmental damage and still achieve economic growth (Wilderer 45).

Even though Jackson (4, 5) offers an argument that is in line with the one above, he changes the direction of the argument by positing that it is possible for economic growth to be achieved in the developed nations without incurring environment damage by toning down the pursuit for relentless growth in the developed world and focusing efforts on sharing resources with the developing world where sustainable economic development is still a formidable challenge. Jackson (14) further argues that if this model of developed world sharing resources with the developing world is adopted, then it is possible to achieve economic growth with no or little damage to the environment; albeit the economic growth is likely to be slower.

Assessing from the above analysis, it is evident that environmental damage is a sure challenge when considering economic growth. Nevertheless, the relentlessness in the dereliction of the environment mainly sprouts from the inequality in economic development as observed from the range between developed and developing economies. When each country is taken on its own, it is impossible to achieve economic growth without damaging the environment though it possible to balance the two via sustainable economic development. However, when the equation is looked at on a broader perspective of a global perspective, then it becomes possible to reduce the damage to lower levels through resource sharing.

Works cited

Beder, Sharon. “Economy and environment: competitors or partners?.” Pacific Ecologist, 3. Spring (2002): 50-56. Web.http://www.uow.edu.au/~sharonb/pacific2.html.

Jackson, Timothy. Prosperity without growth: economics for a finite planet. Paperback ed. London [u.a.]: Earthscan, 2011. Print.

Wilderer, Martin Z.. “Economic growth and the environment.” Economic growth, environment, and development: the significance of the eco-industrial park concept in India and Indonesia. New Delhi: Manak Publications, 2003. 45-60. Print.