Discuss the drivers in the environment and the economy that provide a driver for

Question

Discuss the drivers in the environment and the economy that provide a driver for the sustainable. In your answer include a discussion as to how Population, Affluence and Technology impact the biosphere. How do these come together in their impact (i.e. discuss the synergies between these) and where does the sustainable business fit within these.

Identify the major human activities that impact the environment. Give a specific example of such activities. Weigh the consequences, benefits, and necessities addressed by the activity and the cost of implementing a sustainable approach.

Explanation / Answer

Drivers in the environment are those factors that affects the biosphere and biodiversity directly. There are several drivers, the key ones being population, affluence and technology.

Increasing population usually has a negative impact on the environment. Increasing population requires a higher degree of land usage for vegetation, live-stock grazing, creating and developing urban areas. The increase in population will cause environmental deterioration as the requirement of resources like water, food, soil etc will rise. Secondly, higher waste will be emitted as a result of increased consumption by the population.

Increasing affluence will create more demand for infrastructure in the form of roads and railroads and air-travel. This hurts the biosphere. However, it is a proven fact that economies in the initial stages of their development are more polluting. Once the development level has matured and the economy has become developed, the level of pollution in that economy declines. More affluent people tend to adopt cleaner sources of energy, thereby causing less harm to the environment. Thus, affluence is a double edged sword and has both positive as well as negative impact on the environment.

Technology is being used to protect the environment. Cleaner sources of energy are being developed using technology. Solar power and wind power are now largely sustainable thanks to advances in technology. Technology is also helping in making the process of using fossil fuels more efficient. Cars are being develped that consumes less fuel, thanks to advanced technology. This leads to lower emissions, thus causing less harm to the environment.

Population, affluence and technology can create synergy to protect the environment. If majority of the population takes the effort to reduce wastage and adapt efficient consumption, they can help protect the environment. The affluent section of population and affluent countries can use advanced technology and countries can even invest in the development of new technologies that will help reduce wastage and promote use of cleaner sources of energy. Thus population, affluence and technology can work and create a synergy regarding usage and consumption, that will help reduce the negative impact on environment. Sustainable business can help with their product offerings. For instance solar power companies can provide complete solar powered enabled solutions. Now, many homes only use solar power for all their requirements, governments use products of solar companies to power street lights and traffic lights.

Almost al human activities have an impact on the environment. For example, air pollution is caused by burning of fossil fuels, and from gases that are spewed by factories. Human activities can cause global warming. For example, with increasing carbon footprint and increasing use of CFCs, the ozone layer is depleting. All this is causing global warming. The cosequences of such human activities will have devastating effect on the environment in the long run as with increasing carbon footprint, the quality of environment will deteriorate further.

Human activities can also have positive impact on the environment. For example, reforestation efforts of human beings is being done to restore ecological balance. Cost of implementing a sustainable approach is usually very high as advanced technology is associated with such approaches. Usually, the government subsidises such projects initially to help them get on track.

Related Questions

Navigate

• Browse (All)
• Browse D
• Subjects

Integrity-first tutoring: explanations and feedback only — we do not complete graded work. Learn more.