Various reasons why relying on governments alone may also not provide the socially best outcomes for the environment

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Various reasons why relying on governments alone may also not provide the socially best outcomes for the environment

Introduction

The poor communities live in unhealthy and hazardous environments within the urban environments. Several individuals are reported to build their homes and consequently grow the food they eat within the river floodplains in cities and towns. Indeed, it is evident that urban poor within the developing countries have increased difficulty in accessing water for their day-to-day lives (Lobell & Burke 2010). There are different schools of thought as to whether these actually reinforce the socio-economic vulnerability and marginalization. Some individuals within the urban centers construct their different shelters on the steep, along foreshore on the former mangrove tidal flats or swamps, and unstable hillside (Banks, Roy & Hulmen 2011). The government alone is therefore not able to provide the best socially best outcomes for the environment.

Several decades ago, the economics have debated on the relative strengths of the fiscal and monetary policy, with some of the economists having an opinion that the monetary policy is powerless while others arguing that the fiscal policy is powerless. However, all these issues are considered dead in the contemporary society. Currently, almost all the monetarists and the Keynesians are from the school of thought that monetary policy and fiscal policy are affected by the aggregate demand. Some of the economists also believe that the famous debt neutrality, the doctrine that is intended to substitute the government borrowing for the taxes have totally no effects on the overall demand (Sudeep 2009). Indeed, there is an increased demand for both the government and private sector to invest on the environmental issues due to the effects of climate change witnessed globally.

Various reasons why relying on governments alone may also not provide the socially best outcomes for the environment

There has been increase in climate change affecting the environment in the long. The term climate change is a word which has been used to refer to the increase in temperature of the earth. This is associated with the increase in temperatures within the earth’s atmosphere. Most scientists who study climate have attributed this factor to human activities (Pounds et al., 2006). In this case, climate change is normally caused by the impacts of greenhouse gases on the environment. These greenhouse gases are normally emitted into the environment through combustion of carbon fuels and activities like deforestation. When carbon fuels burn they produce gases like carbon (IV) oxide, these gas forms a layer above the earth’s atmosphere. This layer normally traps the heat that could have otherwise escaped from the earth’s atmosphere leading to increased temperature (Douglaset al. 2008).

The government alone cannot be able to provide the socially best outcomes for the environment since it is the activities of the human beings that pose a threat to the environment. Therefore, the human beings must be involved in all the activities towards environmental management. Current research shows that human activities have added at least thirty percent of carbon dioxide into the environment, which is an enormous increase (Gregory, Ingram & Brklacich 2005). This can be proved because scientists have established that the amount of carbon dioxide, which has increased in the atmosphere, is in congruence with the combustion of fossil fuel. Human activities like generation of electricity, heating, cement production and transport, normally result in the release of billion of tons of carbon dioxide in the environment annually (Pounds et al., 2006). Evidence of global warming has been observed from various sources, with the media highlighting this issue. Environmental scientists have also observed that, the past few years have been the warmest in human history. These are evidence clearly pointing out that, the temperatures have been on the increase continuously. Scientific research has established that increase in global temperature started in the 1900s. This has been associated the huge destruction of forests in the North America, which took place in the 1800s. Industrial revolution, which took place at around the same time, was also viewed to be responsible for the sharp increase in carbon dioxide within the environment during that era (Both, et al., 2006).

Human activities, which lead to climate change, have also been pointed out as the major cause of current droughts experience throughout the world. Proponents of the view that global warming is caused by human activities have pointed out some of the major world droughts. They have established that these droughts correlate with the release of large volumes of greenhouse gases into the environment. For example, they show that the 1998 to 2002 drought was as a result of climate change. The connection of this drought to global warming is based on the fact that, this drought was widespread from the US to central Asia. This showed that the drought was part of an event, which was both huge and homogeneous, signifying climate change (Velicogna & Wahr, 2006).

Scientists in general and environmental experts now perceive climate change, and the fact that it is caused by humans, to be a real issue. This is because scientist and environmental experts have been able to point out some of the empirical evidence, which correlates climate change and human actions. Some of this evidence includes: rising of the sea levels, this has been observed in situations where the sea has risen and covered the towns of low altitude, and islands (Edenhofer 2012). Melting of ice in the North Pole is also another event which signifies global warming due to human actions. Animals have also tended to migrate to escape the effects of climate change. Events like extreme weather patterns and droughts have also been associated with global warming. Migration of certain disease such as Malaria to areas where they were initially unheard of has also been viewed as a consequence of climate change. The above events have been seen as a direct result of climate change, caused by human activities, and destruction of the environment (Hansen, Ruedy, Sato & Lo, 2006).

Environmental Management in the Context of Economics

The essential principle of the classical theory is the fact the economy is always self regulating. The classical economists have always maintained the school of thought that economy is always able to achieve the natural level of the output or GDP, which the level that is often achieved when the resources of the economy are fully utilize (Lucas 1976). The government should therefore involve both the public and private sector in dealing with the environmental issues. There have been issues that have resulted from the environmental degradation such as floods that have impacted on the economy of countries globally. The floods are in most cases a natural phenomenon; however losses and damage from the floods are simply consequences of the human activities. Despite the fact that, climate changes have increasingly been driven by development and modernization, different human actions including land degradation by the poor famers and grazing herd of animals have contributed to environmental change (McGranahan, Balk & Anderson 2007). The individuals who live in such areas are responsible for causing the climate change that has consequently led to the increased cases of global warming. An increase in greenhouse gases such as carbon (IV) oxide, in the environment will automatically lead to an increase in temperature (Ghan & Shippert 2006). Thus, the amount carbon dioxide in the environment is usually less than those of oxygen and nitrogen, which are harmless to the environment. According to scientists, carbon dioxide can produce infrared rays, which is mainly responsible for “greenhouse effects”. Carbon dioxide can also remain in the atmosphere for a lengthy period. Therefore, over production of this gas into the atmosphere, due the combustion of fossil fuel will cause global warming (Pounds, et al. 2006).

The monetarist economic theorists are of the opinion that the government has a role in the control of the actual amount of money that actually circulates. It is from the school of thought that the variation in the major supply of money has an increased influence on the national output within the short run and subsequently the price level over a longer period of time. Moreover, it’s of the opinion that the monetary policies that are put in place are adequately met through targeting the rate of growth of the supply of money. Today, monetarism is mainly associated with the works of Milton Friedman who was actually one of the economists who accepted the Keynesian theory (Friedman & Anna 1963).However, despite the fact that government has the responsibility of funding the activities towards the environment, all the stakeholders must be incorporated. Scientists in general and environmental experts now perceive climate change, and it is caused by humans, to be a real issue (Orlin 1996). This is because scientist and environmental experts have been able to point out some of the empirical evidence, which correlates climate change and human actions. Some of this evidence includes: rising of the sea levels, this has been observed in situations where the sea has risen and covered the towns of low altitude, and islands. Melting of ice in the North Pole is also another event which signifies global warming due to human actions (Hall 1989). Animals have also tended to migrate to escape the effects of climate change. Events like extreme weather patterns and droughts have also been associated with global warming. Migration of certain disease such as Malaria to areas where they were initially unheard of has also been viewed to have resulted from the climate change. The events have been seen as a direct result of climate change that is caused by the human activities as well as destruction of the environment (Hansen, Ruedy, Sato & Lo 2006). Indeed, the government should come up with economic policies that encourage both public and private participation in curbing the environmental issues.

Conclusion

Conclusion

There are also factors which link global warming to the activities of man with some reasonable evidence. Whether climate change is caused by nature or human activities, human being should learn to take care of their environment, through reduction of pollution, and finding alternative technology, which reduces pollution. If these measures are taken, the human population and the environment will be sustained for the future generations. However, the government should give both the public and private sector opportunity of participating.

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