Climate Change & Globalization
By: Marina Galvao
Tags: Climate Change, Sustainability, Global Warming, Globalization, Economics

The Environmental Kuznets Curve!!!! Exclamation marks in there to make sure I don’t lose you at the very beginning of this extremely important piece! Trust me, it truly is important. So important that I’ll insert environmental facts in between to keep you reminded of the severity of these issues and how essential it really is that you care about this.

Let’s get started with environmental fact #1 to give you a starter push: Pine forest ecosystems both in the United States and in Canada are under serious attack due to an unprecedented Mountain Pine Beetle outbreak (Embrey et al., 2012). The outbreak is speculated to be a result of global warming, as warmer summers and milder winters contribute to both Mountain Pine Beetle survival rates and population growth (Embrey et al., 2012). Tree mortality has occurred in about 20 million hectares of pine forests in the United States and Canada (Alfaro et al., 2015), and the resulting disruption to these ecosystems causes significant impacts such as increased water turbidity and runoff, loss of ecosystem services, forest fires, amongst many others (Embrey et al., 2012).

So back to Kuznets. The Environmental Kuznets Curve is a hypothesis that states that at the early stages of economic development, pollution increases will be simultaneous to income increase, however, once increased income has reached its later stages of economic development, this relationship will change and pollution will decrease (Gill et al., 2018). This is because once economic development is just starting, the urbanization and industrialization needed to benefit the economy will generate wastes and use up large amounts of natural resources (the first half of the graph). As we continue to see growth, we reach a point where environmental degradation is reduced. This section (the second half of the graph) can occur as a result of technology improvements, a higher standard of living that enables advances in sustainable use of resources, the development of an overall better capacity to produce more while emitting less, amongst others. This is an interesting concept to study in the context of globalization and climate change.

Environmental fact #2 is here to remind you to keep reading and that this is important stuff: More than a million species are at risk of extinction due to climate change (Sax., 2012). This becomes even more worrisome when we consider that almost 600 species have been driven to extinction since 1750, and that due to the scientific complexities or determining what the actual number may be, 600 is likely to be a hell of an underestimate (Humphreys et al., 2019). It is also important to note that current plant extinction rate is 500 times greater than it was prior to the industrial revolution (Humphreys et al., 2019).

So, let’s bring this back around to our friend the Kuznets Curve. Despite us not knowing for sure whether this hypothesis holds up in practice or not, it is an appealing idea and is connected to many concepts. One of the things we can link this to is developing countries and how their environmental resources may be sacrificed in order for them to grow economically. Already developed countries on the other hand, are more likely to be (or will at least have a greater capacity to be) on the right side of the graph where their immediate needs have already been met and they can further prioritize the environment. They could do this by investing in technologies that are more environmentally friendly, maybe they have imposed a carbon tax that helps either offset or reduce the impacts of that country’s emissions, amongst other options. What is desired is the right side of the curve where we have a successful economy, but natural resources are not sacrificed in order for this to be accomplished. In other words, what we should all thrive for nowadays in every aspect of what we do is the sustainability of the resources which we are using. This would mean your needs are met today, but your grandchildren’s needs are not at all compromised, nor are your great-grandchildren’s and so on. Future generations will be able to succeed just the same! One path to sustainability is the usage of renewable resources. For instance, algae are a renewable resource that can be used as fuel for cars. However, this process can be quite complex and is often costly, so investments must be made in order for this biofuel to be idealized and for bioethanol to replace ethanol in the long run. As previously mentioned, implementation of policies is another way through which countries can develop without having to create negative environmental impacts.

Time for environmental fact #3 to help you stay strong and power through: Bosello & Cian’s research (2014) imply that coastal protection is a cost-effective strategy to tackle climate change’s resulting sea level rise. However, there are numerous regions in which the resources for investing and planning this coastal protection will not be available (Bosello & Cian., 2014). This is further complicated when one takes into consideration the fact that developing countries are more likely to suffer the impacts of climate change in comparison to developed countries (Thomas et al., 2008).

And so back to climate change, globalization and the Environmental Kuznets Curve. It’s very easy to get caught up in the daunting facts and believe we are doomed and it’s too late to change anything. I feel that there were certain periods in my life where that was exactly the mental state in which I stood. However, I’ve thus far met numerous incredible professionals in the field that are extremely determined to make a change, as well as fellow students who are as inspired as I am to see what can be accomplished. So, I have chosen to believe in the good. To conclude, I want to leave you with my personal interpretation of the Kuznets curve.

To begin with, let’s take a look at globalization. We are in the middle of a pandemic, the very first of its kind. This would not be occurring if human beings had not reached the point of globalization which we are currently at. We are growing bigger and bolder, but is this really for the best? Well, I’d like to think it really can be if dealt with right. So my take on the Kuznets curve is that it shows the potential developed countries have of assisting developing countries to reach the right side of the graph as well. I’d like to think that the more globalized we become, the more achievable this is. With the right priorities, countries can unify and share environmentally friendly technology and scientific research while trading resources that benefit their economy. Now let’s link this to climate change, which we all know to be a global problem. If through globalization we are able to all be on the right side of the curve, the level of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere would diminish greatly, creating a world where global warming may not be such a serious problem (much lower levels of GHG would be greatly beneficial to our planet). Of course, this is all easier said than done, and there are many political, social, economic and environmental complexities in the process of bringing all of it to life. Yet the Kuznets curve sure paints us a nice picture doesn’t it?

References

Alfaro, R. I., van Akker, L., & Hawkes, B. (2015). Characteristics of forest legacies following two mountain pine beetle outbreaks in british columbia, canadaNRC Research Press. doi:10.1139/cjfr-2015–0042

Bosello, F., & De Cian, E. (11/01/2014). Climate change, sea level rise, and coastal disasters. A review of modeling practices Elsevier. doi:10.1016/j.eneco.2013.09.002

Embrey, S., Remais, J. V., & Hess, J. (2012). Climate change and ecosystem disruption: the health impacts of the North American Rocky Mountain pine beetle infestation. American journal of public health, 102(5), 818–827. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2011.300520

Humphreys, A. M., Govaerts, R., Ficinski, S. Z., Lughadha, E. N., & Vorontsova, M. S. (2019). Global dataset shows geography and life form predict modern plant extinction and rediscovery. Nature Ecology & Evolution, 3(7), 1043–1047. doi:10.1038/s41559–019–0906–2

Rashid Gill, A., Viswanathan, K. K., & Hassan, S. (01/01/2018). The environmental kuznets curve (EKC) and the environmental problem of the day Elsevier. doi:10.1016/j.rser.2017.05.247

Sax, D. F. (2012). Saving a million species: Extinction risk from climate change. Bioscience, 62(9), 844–845. doi:10.1525/bio.2012.62.9.12

The Environmental Kuznets Curve. (2020, October 26). Retrieved from https://www.intelligenteconomist.com/kuznets-curve/

Thomas, C. D., Ohlemüller, R., Anderson, B., Hickler, T., Miller, P. A., Sykes, M. T., & Williams, J. W. (2008). Exporting the ecological effects of climate change. Developed and developing countries will suffer the consequences of climate change, but differ in both their responsibility and how badly it will affect their ecosystems. EMBO reports, 9 Suppl 1(Suppl 1), S28–S33. https://doi.org/10.1038/embor.2008.42