Less of The Green Stuff

Among the myriad of issues associated with the economic downturn, we’ve seen increased unemployment, or underemployment, as well as decreased borrowing capacity, decreased spending, and wage freezes and slackening in both the public and private sectors.  A side effect of the global recession that isn’t mentioned often is the environmental toll it is taking.  Specifically, environmental policy initiatives have been, and are more like to be discarded or underfunded when there are so many other areas of need in our dynamic global market.   Additionally, some extensive studies have shown that public sentiment just isn’t there for environmental issues during an economic downturn like it is during boom years.   Economic incentives for new, more efficient technology are less popular right now, while sustainability is regarded as a luxury rather than necessity.

Right here in Virginia, our Governor, a friend recently pointed out, is issuing a surcharge for all hybrids, a tax, you might say, in order to compensate for lost tax revenue that comes with lowered consumption of gas.  Isn’t that a little backwards?  The $64 charge on all hybrids, if compensating for an average 100 gallons saved with hybrids, is a gross over-charge, by the way.  For the math to work, gas would have to cost around $18 dollars a gallon, but hey, details, details.  Good work McDonnell, way to effectively get rid of nearly all of your progressive support in the State.   On the larger political scale, the Federal one, if you will, a friend recently summed the issue of environmental regulation and incentive policies well by saying:

“If there is a chance that funding an agency’s program to combat the destruction or degradation of the natural resources of the world can actually save or create wealth in the future, then would it not be wise to run a deficit now in light of the fact that it will create a much larger revenue increase (compared to the up-front cost) in the future?  It is always politically difficult to sell the notion of delayed profits, but no successful company on earth operates without this type of investing process, and it is ridiculous to expect the federal government to bypass these types of long range opportunities as well.”

One of the big bad
 bureaucrats causing mayhem

Delayed profits are a hard sell for sure, whether they be investment of time and money into a reformed tax code, an overhaul of the Medicare system, or environmental regulation,  they can’t get easy traction in the global economy, especially when the economy is sluggish to begin with. 

Amidst the bad stuff, the decreased positive public sentiment towards environmental efforts, lowered regulations on corporate polluters, and lost incentives that help drive environmental change, are there any environmental benefits to the economic downturn?  Well, I think it would be nice to show the sunny side of things at the end of a depressing post like this one, so I’ll leave you with some anticipated fringe benefits to the environment of a sluggish economy:

Benefit #1:  Decreased Waste - Decreased consumption of goods directly produces less waste, and, although that means fewer jobs and harder times for some, it means less land consumed with garbage and the resulting pollution.

Benefit #2:  Cultural Benefits including increased self-sufficiency, as well as less emphasis on travel, and more appreciation of recreational activities such as fishing and hunting. 

Benefit #3:  Decreased greenhouse gas emissions – Delays in building new coal fired power plants, and decreased industrial production has caused an incredible decrease in ambient carbon dioxide levels.

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