222 Ecology and Applied Environmental Science
and nuclear, have serious consequences and pose potential hazards for
health and the wider environment.
Technology has a great ability to reduce the emissions of these pollutants,
but some other environmental problems, as, for example, the complex degradation that ends up in desertification or in the loss of biodiversity, cannot
effectively be dealt with through technological means. Technological abilities expand through the advancement of science but they remain finite.
If, for example, waste disposal from factories into a river increases, then the
pollution abatement technology should greatly increase its performance in
order to keep the water pollution to its initial levels. The cost of pollution
abatement is high and is increasing rapidly with the increase of required
performance. There is for instance a technology for the removal of sulphur
from the exhaust gases of coal-fired thermoelectric power stations, but the
surcharge per kilowatt-hour is high, especially when pollution abatement
is applied to existing older stations. There is a technology for electricity
production by solar radiation and other renewable sources, but the production and storing cost is still high. Nevertheless, future cleaner production
technologies together with more efficient pollution abatement technologies
are expected to create prospects of economic activities with lessening environmental burdening that will gradually tend towards zero.
13.2 THE ‘DEVELOPMENT VERSUS
ENVIRONMENT’ DILEMMA
All human societies pursue security and comfort, and many societies or
social groups demand environmental conservation, with an emphasis on
quantitative or qualitative elements, in conjunction with the level of economic and social development of each society. Developed people express
increased environmental concerns today, after having heavily exploited
natural resources for centuries. A great number of developing countries
have resisted environmental regulations for decades, asserting the so-called
“right to pollution.” The antagonistic relations between the environment
and development can be pointed out in the framework of the rich North
or the poor South, the slums or the desertified countryside, the aristocratic suburbs or the degraded quarters (“Fourth World”) in big cities. The
philosophical question of whether the environment should be protected as
a value in itself or as an exploitable good remains open. In the first case, a
qualitative approach is sufficient, whereas in the second a quantification of
environmental problems is necessary. Finally, environmental conservation
cannot be successful if it ignores the natural tendency of the environment
for change, which is manifested in different time scales: tens of millions of
years (geological tectonic movements, biological evolution) and centuries
(ecological succession).
and nuclear, have serious consequences and pose potential hazards for
health and the wider environment.
Technology has a great ability to reduce the emissions of these pollutants,
but some other environmental problems, as, for example, the complex degradation that ends up in desertification or in the loss of biodiversity, cannot
effectively be dealt with through technological means. Technological abilities expand through the advancement of science but they remain finite.
If, for example, waste disposal from factories into a river increases, then the
pollution abatement technology should greatly increase its performance in
order to keep the water pollution to its initial levels. The cost of pollution
abatement is high and is increasing rapidly with the increase of required
performance. There is for instance a technology for the removal of sulphur
from the exhaust gases of coal-fired thermoelectric power stations, but the
surcharge per kilowatt-hour is high, especially when pollution abatement
is applied to existing older stations. There is a technology for electricity
production by solar radiation and other renewable sources, but the production and storing cost is still high. Nevertheless, future cleaner production
technologies together with more efficient pollution abatement technologies
are expected to create prospects of economic activities with lessening environmental burdening that will gradually tend towards zero.
13.2 THE ‘DEVELOPMENT VERSUS
ENVIRONMENT’ DILEMMA
All human societies pursue security and comfort, and many societies or
social groups demand environmental conservation, with an emphasis on
quantitative or qualitative elements, in conjunction with the level of economic and social development of each society. Developed people express
increased environmental concerns today, after having heavily exploited
natural resources for centuries. A great number of developing countries
have resisted environmental regulations for decades, asserting the so-called
“right to pollution.” The antagonistic relations between the environment
and development can be pointed out in the framework of the rich North
or the poor South, the slums or the desertified countryside, the aristocratic suburbs or the degraded quarters (“Fourth World”) in big cities. The
philosophical question of whether the environment should be protected as
a value in itself or as an exploitable good remains open. In the first case, a
qualitative approach is sufficient, whereas in the second a quantification of
environmental problems is necessary. Finally, environmental conservation
cannot be successful if it ignores the natural tendency of the environment
for change, which is manifested in different time scales: tens of millions of
years (geological tectonic movements, biological evolution) and centuries
(ecological succession).