Marina: Economics is important for the quality of life for everyone.

Chris: Although economics, and the improvement and development of economics is important, there is something else that we must take into consideration as well.

Yuri: We must realize that economic growth will not be able to be sustained into the future if environmental degradation is taking place and non-renewable resources are being used up at a fast rate

Mimi: It is vital to take into consideration the possible negative consequences of economic growth in terms of the effects on the environment and the ability of future generations to meet their needs

Marina: So the question of how resources must be distributed is the question, and the answer comes from sustainable development. This can be defined in many ways but the following that has appeared in 1987 is most commonly used.

Chris: Now lets take into consideration such things as global warming.

Yuri: There is a big debate about global warming that suggests that economic growth is not sustainable

Mimi: For example, look at the production of fossil fuels.

Marina: To produce and transport the massive amount of goods and services that more developed and rapidly growing economies demands, fuel is required

Chris: Therefore, fossil fuels are vital to the smooth running of economies.

Yuri: On the other hand, the extraction and use of coal, oil, and natural gas pose immense threats to future generations

Mimi: This is because, when burned, carbon dioxide and greenhouse gases are emitted, in other words, global warming occurs. This leads to climate change, resulting to natural disasters such as the flooding of coastal areas, changes to agriculture patterns, and extreme weather

Marina: Furthermore, when companies burn coal to produce electricity, nitrogen oxide and sulfur oxide are produced, leading to acid rain, thereby leading to problems for vegetation crops, and can damage buildings

Chris: Other problems that may occur are oil spills, leading to external costs to the environment, fish, animals, and coastal communities

Yuri: To summarize, fossil fuels are both over-produced and over-consumed, which is a significant market failure on a global level

Marina: When you look back at one of the root causes for global warming, it is the desire for economic development. The debate, therefore, would be the balance between economic development and the environment: consequently, sustainable development.

Chris: So what would be sustainable development in this case?

Yuri: The reason people use fossil fuels are for the energy. One alternative for fossil fuels, therefore is wind energy. Of course, wind is free, and among the new sources of renewable energy that will be central to powering a sustainable future, wind is leading the pack, with nearly 160 gigawatts (GW) of global capacity in 2009

Mimi: If you take a look at this graph, you will see the global emissions for cars worldwide in 2012. Even by this point in time, many cars of developed countries, which usually produce the most carbon dioxide, has changed to hybrid cars that sustain energy. Another graph shows how electric cars compare to other forms of transportation. Visibly, electric cars sustain much more energy, which means that it will be cheaper as a transportation method in comparison to other ones. The opportunity cost for having an electric powered, or hybrid car, therefore, will be significantly smaller.

Marina: Now that we’ve found a suitable alternative for fossil fuels, lets take into consideration other threats to sustainability, such as common access resources.

Chris: Common access resources are typically natural resources such as fishing grounds and forests for managing natural resources such as irrigation systems.

Yuri: One problem with such resources is that it is very difficult to exclude people from using them

Chris: Common access resources are typically natural resources such as fishing grounds and forests for managing natural resources such as irrigation systems.

Yuri: One problem with such resources is that it is very difficult to exclude people from using them

Mimi: The fear is that the nature of the resource and the inability to charge for them may encourage overuse or over-consumption which would, of course, eventually lead to the depletion of the resource

Marina: To state an example, if there is a fishing ground near a village and the villagers have open access to them, then individuals will take as many fishes because each fish adds “marginal utility”

Chris: Which is defined as: the extra satisfaction that a person gets by consuming one more unit of a good or service

Yuri: Basically, the depletion of common access resources damages sustainability because if this fishing harms the stock of fish, the damage is shared by the entire group including future generations. The future generations would lose the benefit of enjoying the resource and so the consumption levels are not sustainable in the long run (put in a graph of the depleting fish sources in Japan)

Mimi: The solutions to the problems associated with the overuse of common access resources depend largely on who uses the resources, so if the resources are used by a group of people geographically situated in one country, then national solutions may be employed; and if the common property resource extends to more than one country at a time, for example the world’s oceans, then international negotiations and solutions are required.

Marina: Although the future of sustainable development may seem bleak, many people are working hard to make sure that it will be able to work.

Chris: Still there exists factors that further threatens sustainability. Both high levels of poverty and the pursuit of economic growth result in environmental problems such soil erosion and deforestation

Yuri: For developing countries, these problems not only cause poverty and low standards of living, but the problems of common access resources or weak regulations result in massive negative externalities and a significant threat to sustainability

Mimi: The problems of deforestation using the concept of common access resources. Low-income people in rural areas of developing countries often depend on wood as their only source of fuel for cooking and use common sources of wood.

Marina: When the existing trees are cut down there are consequences. The households who need the wood must travel greater distances to acquire wood for fuel. This is quite likely to keep low-income households trapped in a vicious cycle that results in the persistent overuse of the resources

Chris: We must act now

Yuri: Because what we do today determines both the climate of tomorrow and the choices that shape our future

Mimi: We must act differently

Marina: Because we cannot plan for the future based on the climate of the past. Tomorrow’s climate needs will require us to build infrastructure that can withstand new conditions and support greater numbers of people

TOGETHER: IN THE END, WE MUST ACT TOGETHER