Question

Write a good paragraph on Why Nature is the Biggest Victim of Industrialization and How it Affects Economics?

Answer 1

Why Nature is the Biggest Victim of Industrialization?

The negative effect of industrialization on the environment has been known for years. The danger associated with lead, chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), and other toxic materials was discovered and several measures have been taken to stop the damage done to the environment by these agents. It will not be far fetched to blame industrialization as the main cause for the situation we humans find ourselves in today. The developed nations, being the main promoters, sponsors, and profiting bodies of industrialization, were the prominent victims. They were also the first ones to put a system in place in attempt to counteract the harm done to the environment.

The developed nations dominate the industrial world, as 74% of the world’s industrial output takes place in these nations (1). Today, second and third world counties are striving to get a bigger portion of the world’s total industrial output. Between 1990 and 1995, the rates of industrial growth in China, East Asia, and South Asia were 18.1%, 15%, and 6.4%, respectively, while this number for North America was only a little above 2.5% (2). The cities of such developing countries are going through a similar phenomena as the early European nations during their transition from a mainly rural, agrarian society to an urban one. “Widespread social and economic disruption, unemployment, homelessness, pollution, and increased exposure to health hazards both at work and at home” are evident in these nations (3). The rate at which these countries are going through their Industrial Revolution is also startling. For example, Thailand and Indonesia have been undergoing similar changes in a couple of decades that took the early Europeans 200 years to accomplish.

How nature affects economy:

The biggest vulnerability is that the weather gravely affects developing countries' main economic activities—such as farming and tourism. Global warming dries out farmland. Since two-thirds of Africa is desert or arid, the continent is heavily exposed. One study predicts that by 2080 as much as a fifth of Africa's farmland will be severely stressed. And that is only one part of the problem.

Global warming also seems to be speeding up the earth's hydrologic cycle, causing both floods and droughts (more rains fall in shorter periods, with longer gaps between). In addition, by melting glaciers, global warming reduces nature's storage capacity. Two-thirds of the world's fresh water is stored in glaciers. Their melting leaves poor countries with less of a buffer to protect farmers against changing weather and rainfall patterns.

This kind of increasing unpredictability would be dire news at the best of times: hit by drought and flood, the land becomes less productive. It is compounded by another problem. The higher-yielding, pest-resistant seed varieties invented in the 1960s were designed to thrive in stable climes. Old-fashioned seeds are actually better at dealing with variable weather—but are now less widely used. Reinstituting their use will mean less food.