Economic Causes of Global Warming
Global warming has become an increasingly controversial topic among scientists and politicians over the past several decades. Some argue that global warming is not happening at all, while others try to produce evidence that the earth is hotter than before and that global warming is primarily a man-made phenomenon. The issue has been discussed in great detail in terms of science, but it has been discussed in less detail in terms of what economic factors could be contributing to any global warming that may exist.
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Developing Countries' Industrial Infrastructure
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There are a large number of countries worldwide that are on the path to industrialization, but lack the monetary resources to invest in many of the green technologies available. As a consequence, they operate facilities and factories that emit greater amounts of greenhouse gases and toxic waste. In contrast, richer nations can invest in research and production for machines that are more efficient and which reduce the amount of harmful emissions.
Competition
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Many companies, particularly automotive companies, want to increase their revenue by keeping operating costs low. These companies, if not checked by legal regulations, purposely may not replace machines or systems that emit greenhouse gases and toxic waste. It costs the company money to upgrade. Often this is related to the prices of competitors---companies need to be able to sell a similar product at the same price or lower than the price competitors ask, and often this can't be done if the company is spending a lot on green technology.
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Convenience
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As people need more money, they often resort to working multiple jobs. This results in having less time for food preparation or making items from scratch. They thus buy more packaged items for the convenience. This packaging often is in the form of plastics or Styrofoam that takes incredible amounts of energy to manufacture or recycle, and the packaging that is cardboard still requires the cutting down of trees.
Civil Service
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Trees and other foliage serve to counter the effects of greenhouse gases. However, this plant life is also combustible. As an economy worsens, less money is put into civil service jobs such as firefighting. Greater amounts of plant life that could counter global warming thus may be lost.
Item Purchase
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Nations that are rich have the capacity to invest in green technologies that can reduce global warming. However, the richer a nation grows, the more likely it is that its people will opt to purchase more and more items. The increase in items sold means an increase in the use of resources such as petroleum and electricity that are used to manufacture the product. This still can hold true even with the use of green technologies if the number of products manufactured is significant enough. The higher the population, the worse this problem may be.
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