Recession not bad for Everyone-Carbon get cut

The recent global economic recession that started has last November has been hurting everyone it seems. Well, not everyone. The environment is one benefactor of the economic crisis, even if people seem to be losing jobs, economies slowing down, and others are in general losing. The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that global carbon dioxide emissions will fall by over 2% in 2009. This is a larger drop than any other period in over 40 years, including the smaller economic recession during the early 1980’s.

Environmentalists and economists alike stated that there is a correlation between nation’s GDP and carbon emissions. Basically, the larger the GDP of a country the more carbon emissions it will produce, since it is expected to be more industrialized and more “developed”. Some of the major new carbon emissions in the past decade have come not from the developed countries, but from the newly developing countries, which are striving to catch up economically and commercially with their more advanced counterparts. However, in the process of rapid industrialization, many have resorted to crude methods of energy production and generation. China, for example, gets most of its national energy output from coal. Contrast this to France, which produces over 80% of its energy through nuclear power. Setting aside for the moment the negative effects of nuclear power (radioactive waste, etc), nuclear power is much cleaner for the environment than coal. Likewise, countries like India, Brazil, and others are resorting to less-advanced technologies (ie. Cheaper tech) in order to boost their countries development, standard-of-living, and economic output.

The recession not only cut the business sector’s demand for power, but also it seems led to deferments in investments for new fossil fuel plants. Does this mean that the recession is a good thing? I would argue no. The recession may be benefiting the environment but it is detrimental to people’s livelihoods. However, with so many governments around the world passing economic stimulus bills, perhaps this money could be put to research for new more energy efficient technologies. Not only will this stimulate the economies into jump-start by providing jobs for scientists, engineers, technicians, and others, but it will hopefully lead to breakthroughs in technology that will allow us to produce energy more efficiently while producing less carbon emissions than previous technologies. The recession is a respite, a calm in the storm, and we should use that break to our advantage. Our carbon emissions will likely continue to rise once the recession is over, but what we plan and do during the recession will affect the rate and possibly eventual plateau-ing of that rise. That depends not only on politician’s decisions, but on our decisions and actions as a whole.

References:
Black, Richard. “Recession and Policies cut Carbon”. BBC. September 21st, 2009. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8267475.stm