ECS2606 ASSIGNMENT 1 SEMESTER 2

63723565 1 ASSIGNMENT 01 Module Title: Environmental Economics Semester 2 Assignment 01 63723565 ECS 2606 2 SECTION A Answer: Question 1 Technological advances since the Industrial Revolution have paved the way for rapid economic growth which has come at the expense of environmental quality. Problems associated with economic growth Pollution Industrial production processes are characterised by the possibility to mitigate emissions, using physical and human capital which allows for an increase in output with the same amount of emissions. Environmental degration is caused by the stock of pollutants which stems from industrial production. Pollution disturbs our ecosystems and the balance in the environment. With modernisation and development in our lives, pollution has reached its peak; giving rise to global warming and human illnesses. There are many forms of environmental pollution namely; air, water, soil, radioactive, noise, heat/thermal and air pollution. Overuse and waste of natural resources Countries industries and farmers waste and inefficiency is the biggest threat to the environment, overtaking pollution. The biggest threat to the environment now is that humanity is overusing the planet as a resource base. Developed economies such as the UK are consuming resources at a rate close to the planets actual capacity. Disincentive to conserve Disincentives are designed to discourage activities that are harmful to the environment. Examples are penalties or pollution taxes. Disincentives are an important tool for ensuring the conservation and sustainable use of resources in the environment. Question 2 Reduce the quantity of goods and services produced . Some people argue that this is the best long-run answer to environmental degradation: reducing output, or at least stopping its rate of growth, would allow a similar change in the quantity of residuals discharged. Some have sought to reach this goal by advocating “zero population growth” (ZPG). But it is certainly true that population growth will often exacerbate the environmental impacts of a particular economy. In the Canadian economy, for example, the emission of pollutants per car has dramatically decreased over the last few decades through better emissions-control technology. But the sheer growth in the number of cars on the highways has led to an increase in the total quantity of certain automobile emissions in many regions, most particularly large cities such as Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver.