Improving Our Standard of Living (Wattpad Edition)

Chapter 3: Environment and Standard of Living

A significant contributing factor to global living standards is the health of the environment. Pollution affects human and animal health and reduces the availability of natural resources.

According to the World Wildlife Fund, humanity has destroyed one-third of the world's farmable land in the last 60 years [1]. The reason is unsustainable agricultural practices.

According to a study published in Nature, 3.3 million people die from air pollution every year [2]. Most of these deaths are in countries that are industrializing but aren't yet fully developed. Nations like China, India, Pakistan, and Indonesia. Air pollution increases the risk of contracting COPD, asthma, bronchitis, heart disease, stroke, emphysema, lung cancer, allergies, and other diseases.

According to the United Nations, water pollution kills more people per year than war [3].

Global warming kills 300,000 people per year [4]. Most of these fatalities are from heat waves, floods, storms, forest fires, and decreased crop production. A warmer planet dries out the soil, making crops harder to grow. The effects are devastating in countries that struggle to grow enough food as it is.

Most pollution-caused deaths are in developing nations. Per capita, their air quality is worse, their drinking water is less safe, they recycle less, they are less efficient at disposing of trash, and they engage in the most unsustainable farming practices.

We know this because poorer countries score lower on Yale's Environmental Performance Index and Numbeo's Pollution Index [5] [6].

Contrary to popular belief, poverty, not wealth, is the primary cause of pollution. This mostly applies to nations that are between fully developed and impoverished status. The heaviest polluters—per capita—are the industrializing countries like China, India, Pakistan, and Indonesia.

Wealthy countries experience fewer pollution-related deaths because they pollute less on a per capita basis. We know this for a fact because they score better on the pollution indices that I just mentioned.

However, wealthier countries do release more carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere than poorer ones. But there's a lot more to pollution than CO2.

The CO2 trend is reversing. Wealthy countries are the biggest investors in renewable energy. That's hardly surprising considering that it takes wealth to develop new technology and to install a green infrastructure.

According to the US Energy Information Association, nations that are moving most rapidly toward 100% renewable energy generation include Iceland, Norway, Austria, New Zealand, Canada, Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Spain, Portugal, the United Kingdom, and the United States—all wealthy countries [7].

It may not seem like it now because we are still in the early stages of development, but renewable energy is skyrocketing. Rich nations are leading the way.

The transition to renewable energy would happen sooner if there weren't so much global warming denial. Much of it is from misinformation funded by the fossil fuel industry, which feels threatened by renewables. According to a study by researchers from Drexel University, fossil fuel companies gave hundreds of millions of dollars to nearly 100 climate change denial organizations over the last decade [8]. ExxonMobil alone gave $20 million to 43 climate denial groups according to a report from the Union of Concerned Scientists [9].

A lot of funding goes to lobbyists that try to convince legislators that climate change isn't happening or isn't severe. And many politicians receive campaign contributions from oil, coal, and natural gas companies.

The goal of the fossil fuel industry is less about convincing people that global warming is a hoax and more about convincing them that there's "another side to the debate." But there isn't a debate in the scientific community. The science is clear, and the scientists agree. The global warming deniers aren't scientists. They're not even paid to conduct studies. They're paid to disseminate misleading information. They tend to be writers for conservative magazines and speakers on conservative radio stations and podcasts.