Economic Growth trumps Human Survival
Economic growth trumps the fate of humanity. That’s the reasonable conclusion one can make reading India’s Economic Time’s Sep 4th article titled “Amazon forest fires: Missing the forest for the trees” ¹. Citing from the article,
Brazil is drawing the world’s, especially Europe’s, flak over Amazon forest fires. But history shows forest cover declined in Europe on a far larger scale as organised farming. This fact mirrors the larger argument on global warming — emerging economies resist steeply reduced emissions norms on the grounds that the West didn’t have to contend with an environmental constraint when it rapidly industrialised.
In other words, the West advanced economically by destroying the environment so why isn’t Brazil allowed the same luxury?
It seems when asked to prioritize between economic growth and Global Warming, the ET Bureau choose economic growth. After all, the latter is only humanity’s greatest existential threat (along with nuclear war).
Go figure.
