Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
It is important to note that declines in the rate of economic growth, such as
those typically assumed to accompany a shift to renewable energy or reduced
pollution, do not imply that our standard of living would also decline. A
slower rate of growth simply means that the rate of increase in the size of the
economy would be lower; it does not mean that the absolute level of economic
growth would decline. Yet the claim that any particular policy proposal
designed to improve the environment, or people's quality of life will reduce
economic growth is, in contemporary political debate, a killer blow.
Consider the list of environmentally desirable policies which, after years
of discussion, are yet to be implemented for fear that they will 'reduce the
rate of growth':
•
signing the Kyoto Protocol
•
implementing a carbon tax
•
ending land clearing
•
placing a levy on plastic shopping bags
•
making manufacturers responsible for the disposal of their products
•
charging agricultural and industrial users for the full cost of the water
they use
•
ending old-growth logging, and
•
abolishing the import duty concessions that ensure that large 4WDs
pay a lower rate of tax than small passenger vehicles.
Governments have been aware of the need to implement such straight-
forward measures for many years. For example, water continues to be used
unsustainably in Australian agriculture and industry despite decades of evi-
dence of the need for reform. Yet, despite the widespread support for 'sus-
tainability', in a contest between a better environment or a bigger economy
the latter seems to win each time.
While Australia's failure to improve its environment in several crucial
areas is lamentable, the pace at which we have gone backwards in many
policy areas is even more alarming. In recent years, many policies have been
introduced that are unambiguously harmful to the natural environment. In
relation to transport, for example, the Federal Government has:
•
reduced the price of petrol by abolishing the indexation of fuel excise
•
reduced the price of petrol for business users by a further nine cents
per litre with the introduction of the GST
