Professional Documents
Culture Documents
PREPARATION
AND INTRODUCTION
Q = Is it possible ?
Yes, (under what conditions?) No, (under what conditions?) T: environmental protection vs progress What is the assumption in the qn? Is there a contest between the 2 at all? K = increasing demand gets greater and greater : why?
*** If progress is defined as growth that stems from the production and consumption of goods, then societies and governments will drive up energy use for the sake of that growth
INTERPRETATION OF KEY WORD What about the key word increasing? The rising demand for energy comes from :
Increasing affluence Increasing technology Throwaway society Rising expectation
Reduce pollution
Reduce the depletion of natural resources
* Consume less affect economic progress * Look for other/new alternatives * Renew resources maintain economic progress while causing less damage
Questioning the assumption in the Qn Can protecting the environment and achieving progress co-exist?
Can protecting the environment and achieving progress co-exist? If yes, then why/how?
(a) DEVELOP TECHNOLOGICAL CAPABILITIES (b) IMPLEMENT VARIOUS LEVELS OF EFFORT (c) BROADEN THE MEANING OF PROGRESS
PARAGRAPH DEVELOPMENT
Legislate
Incentivise
Educate
Legislates
Mandatory energy labelling of electrical appliances limits for waste disposal, gas emissions licences e.g for hazardous subtances
Incentivises
Educates
Guidelines and handbooks Environmental training for businesses (Corporate Environment Champions Programme) Educational programmes for schools and the public (Semakau Island tour, Youth Environment Envoy etc)
25-40% cut in greenhouse gases by 2020 and at least 80% by 2050, compared with 1990 levels a binding target of a 20% increase in energy efficiency by 2020 and specific interim targets a European Climate Fund + incentives
(i) NO TECHNOLOGY
WHY ? NOT ENOUGH $$$ ! poor nations debt-ridden already (Ethiopias $10 billion debt ; 45% of export earnings used to clear debt each year) vs richer countries esp. with reserves (China has trillions of US dollars in reserves)
(i) NO TECHNOLOGY
WHY ? NOT ENOUGH SHARING ! * Knowledge and skills = advantage
(i) NO TECHNOLOGY
SO? Poor countries fall further and further behind Need more and more of the environmentally damaging energy sources to catch up
Gas
Geothermal Hydropower Wind power Solar Biomass Fuel Cell
313-346
67 48-86 60 116-312 47-117 86-111
Wave power
611
CONCLUSION
IN CONCLUSION
increasing amounts of energy. Balancing progress and environmental protection is a huge challenge that can be surmountable by harnessing green technology and sharing it.
IN CONCLUSION
While technology is key, INSIGHT we also need to include past present future sustainability in our definition of progress. direct indirect This entails : a change in short term long term expectations conservation even it means consuming less social justice
Is it is possible to nurture a sense of belonging to ones country when the prospects of going abroad are so attractive? Should we invest in expensive medical research when only few can afford it ? Should the government invest in the arts in times of economic hardship ? Should the state be concerned with what happens in other countries when it faces many challenges of its own?