We are currently in an economic recession. Some people may even call it a depression, but some people are crazy. You may think that nothing good can come from a recession like this. I thought everthing about it was bad until I read the Newsweek article called "The Recession's Green Lining" by Sharon Begley from the March 16 issue. The article talked about how the global recession is closing dirty, pollution-emitting factories. These factories would be operating right now, pumping toxins into the air, if it wasn't for the economic crisis, which forced them to close.
Begley specifically talked about the Baikal Pulp and Paper Mill, located in Siberia. The mill had a terrible smell, it put chemicals into the air and water, and the pollution was killing plants and animals, including the nerpa, the world's only freshwater seal. The article said the mill "has been belching foul-smelling sulfates into the air and chlorides, phenols and other chemicals into the lake since it was built during the Cold War." The people living there were mad about all the damage it was causing to their area and to Lake Baikal. Environmentalists were trying to shut down the mill for years but were unsuccessful. Then, with the recession and a loss of business and funding, the Baikal Pulp and Paper Mill closed and will hopefully never open again. In the article, Marina Rikhvanova, the head of the environmental group, Baikal Wave, said, "The economic crisis worked like magic." Environmentalists rejoice! We can't afford to keep open factories!
China, India, the United States, and many other manufacturing countries have closed many plants and cut pollution drastically. But, when we come out of this recession, the factories will probably open back up and start killing animals and melting the ozone layer all over again. I think we need to use this time to find alternatives to our current factory production methods. We have to come up with new ways to make the same supplies but with less damage to the environment. Pulp and paper mills like the one in Siberia could find alternatives to the chemicals they treat the raw materials with. Other factories could use solar or wind power as fuel. The government could make stricter rules and regulations about pollution. After the recession, we can not go back to how factories used to be.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
It's refreshing to read about the crisis from this perspective. Though, overall, the recession cannot be anything good for the United States, the environmental factor is definitely a positive effect most overlook when considering the state of the economy at present. I guess it has a lot to do with that "glass half empty" mentality we tend to take on when discussing the recession. Jobs are being lost, frugality is practiced almost religiously by many... it's all one can do to stay afloat in these hard times, and in the light of such conditions, talk about the recession's environmental benefits might be met with a bit of unconcern. I think it's a fantastic effect, though. More people should think about things this way.
ReplyDeleteI don't think people realize how crucial it is to take care of the earth. Sure factories allow us to make money to survive, but what good is having money to survive if there is no healthy earth to live on.
ReplyDelete-Storkafork