EXCERPTS from new book, ‘Environmental Debt’: The term “environmental debt” is defined as polluting and/or damaging actions that will cost OTHER parties (people, businesses, or governments) real money in the future. And just like any other debt, at some point the bill will come due. (4) • In 2011, Harvard’s Institute for Global Health and the Environment released a study showing that JUST IN THE UNITED STATES, the unreported life cycle costs of coal are between $350 billion and $500 billion a year. These hundreds of billions of dollars represent actual bills paid by unwitting families, fisheries, businesses, schools, municipal water systems and healthcare providers as well as victims of asthma, black lung and other medical problems. So, despite conventional wisdom, coal is not a cheap energy. Its price is cheap only because it is subsidized by its own victims. (1) • And the problem stretches far beyond our borders: Remember the catastrophic 2011 floods in Thailand? Deforestation in Thailand 20 years ago and heavy rains caused catastrophic flooding in 2011. Although the Thai government banned all commercial logging in 1989, the damage was largely already done. Deforestation continued after the ban due to a combination of corrupt officials, agricultural needs, and industrial demands. By 2011, the massive deforestation had degraded Thailand’s topsoil, and without enough trees, the ground was unable to soak up water at a rate that would that would have contained the deforestation. Local Thai factories that produced car parts were closed for months. These closures caused shortages for Toyota and Honda, and both companies were forced to suspend manufacturing in Kentucky, Singapore, and the Philippines. Toyota alone lost production of 260,000 vehicles (3.4 percent of its annual production output), while causing tens of thousands of workers to lose their jobs in three different countries. (5) • An equally vexatious problem is much closer to home. Pesticides are everywhere – in our gardens, refrigerators, even our cosmetics. In 2007, the College of Family Physicians of Canada published a peer-reviewed survey of the scientific literature on the relationship between pesticides and cancer. It is sobering reading, especially concerning the dangers to children. Pesticides were linked to increased rates of leukemia, brain cancer and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Other cancers are strongly to have links to pesticide exposure as well. (4) • An example of latent consequences in our kitchens and bathrooms is the explosion of products used for antibacterial cleaning, such as soaps, toothpaste, and personal care products. Many of these ubiquitous products contain triclosan, a compound that can cause mild problems, such as skin irritation and allergies, in some people. It can also cause long-term, ecosystem-altering problems, such as endocrine disruption that affects wildlife, humans and the aquatic ecosystem. What’s more, these products encourage the buildup of antibiotic resistance, which leads to the evolution of superbugs. Leading scientific and medical institutions have published findings in the last decade showing that triclosan exposure at low levels causes thyroid disruption in frogs. Humans and frog signaling systems are nearly identical. Triclosan can cause reproductive problems that harm local fisheries. (5) Twentieth Century Business Rules Use Incomplete Metrics To Measure Performance: (3) Pollution is largely free to the polluter. Earnings statements do not include long-term financial, economic and social impacts. Governments subsidize business with no concern for environmental impact. This model no longer works. Here’s what can. The Nature Means Business (NMB) Framework: Pollution can NO LONGER be free and can NO LONGER be subsidized. The LONG VIEW must guide all decision making and accounting. Government plays a vital role in catalyzing clean technology and growth while preventing environmental destruction. barnesandnoble/w/environmental-debt-amy-larkin/1114145347?ean=9781137278555
Posted on: Sat, 22 Mar 2014 20:08:50 +0000
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