A strange way of viewing man’s activities on earth occurred to me a few days ago – the economic point of view. We often hear of moral or scientific arguments but not many economical ones. Let me explain what I mean.
Natural Resources – Artificially low prices
There’s something skewed about the price we pay for the products we consume and the fuel we burn. To take an example, I bought a plastic bag today at Aldi’s (I had to – needed to walk 2.5 km back home with groceries) for 10c. It’s so cheap that one wouldn’t mind paying for it at all.
And yet, that plastic bag poses a real problem as far as its effects go. Depending on the type of plastic, it can take anywhere from 20 to 700 years to decompose naturally in a landfill and it’s incredibly difficult to recycle. You don’t want to try burning it either because quite apart from the horrible smell (as anyone who has smelt plastic burn can attest), it could – again depending on the plastic – release toxic dioxins.