The European Environmental Agency released a report involving the dangers of air pollution. This included hazards such as death, medical costs, lost work days, infrastructure damage, and lost crops. They estimated that the costs of all such problems added up to $235 billion in Europe. That is a large number to be taken away from potential GDP, and we learned in class how a small percentage change in GDP growth can cause a giant loss in GDP in the long run. I'm sure many people downplay the impact that pollution has on every day life, but if very extreme actions aren't taken soon then these problems will only worsen. I fear for industry heavy economies such as the U.S. and Euro zone countries because these problems have been put off for too long and could very negatively affect the health of economies and people.
http://money.cnn.com/2014/11/25/news/economy/industry-pollution-cost/index.html?iid=HP_River
It’s surprising how much money has been lost do to this pollution. It’s ironic that the pollution is most likely due to the production of goods which are meant to make money. I hope that people can see how much of an affect pollution has and we can find a way use cleaner energy in the future.
ReplyDeleteI think big organizations are going to be the first ones taking action to improve emissions but smaller companies which have to stay competitive and are fighting over small margins in developing countries might not be so adoptive of the "let's make the environment better" trend anytime soon
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