“When the last tree has been cut down, the last fish caught, the last river poisoned, only then will we realise that one can not eat money”
The Matrix, written and directed by the Wachowski’s, which changed our perspective about life. Agent Smith impressed us as much as the real hero Neo. In the movie, Agent Smith made interesting observations about human beings while interrogating Morpheus. Agent Smith used following expressions in that scene:
“I’d like to share a revelation during my time here. It came to me when I tried to classify your species. I realized that you’re not actually mammals. Every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with the surrounding environment but you humans do not. You move to an area and you multiply and multiply until every natural resource is consumed. The only way you can survive is to spread to another area. There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern. Do you know what it is? A virus. Human beings are a disease, a cancer of this planet. You are a plague, and we are the cure.”
Is Agent Smith right? Is humanity really the world’s cancer or virus?
Considering that climate change is caused by human activities, it is clear that the role of economic activities in climate change is an indisputable fact. Economic activities are basically aimed to meet the unstoppable needs of human beings. The increasing world population led to the increase and development of economic activities. Industrial activities enormously increased with the industrial revolution and has reached incredible amounts since the second half of the 20th century. These activities and consequences of them were unfortunately not under control and the sociological or ecological consequences of industrialization were not taken into account. Uncontrolled growth caused mankind to face serious challenges.
As human beings developed scientifically and culturally, they began to cause incredible and irreparable damage to the world they lived in. Environmental pollution, which has emerged with the industrialization, threatens all the living on the Earth. Climate change, which has arisen due to environmental pollution, has become the most important problem of mankind. The gradual increase in greenhouse gases resulting from the use of fossil energy sources causes climate change.
According to the results of long-term projections, possible increases in the severity and intensity of extreme weather conditions provide clear information about the consequences of climate change. The environmental destruction that occurs due to these increases will create serious risks on the ecosystem and affect the sustainability of life. The concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere are increasing as a result of fossil fuel consumption. Destructive use of Land due to economic activities especially in growth-oriented economies are expected to increase much more in the next few decades due to the population growth. According to some doomsday scenarios, the ecosystem will be able to carry this burden for a maximum of 20 years, and then it will go collapse. The collapse of the ecosystem, on the other hand, will bring the end of human beings as well as plants, animals and micro-organisms that have no negative contribution to this change. In other words, the whole world will suffer because of the sins of mankind.
In addition to the natural effects due to climate change, various agricultural practices stemming from economic activity, such as the degradation of agricultural lands cause environmental destructions and desertification. On the other hand, the difficulty of accessing safe water resources for some regions as a result of water pollution pose a great threat to meeting the basic needs of nature. Obviously, those destructive consumption disrupts the balance of use of resources and causes the capacity of nature to be exceeded.
The key question in this point is: Are people aware of this danger? It would be unfair to say “no” to this question. In particular, it is seen that awareness about climate change has increased and serious steps have been taken regarding such a problem.
Since the Industrial Revolution, the wrong production policies of the enterprises, the economic interpretations of the mainstream ‘continuous growth-oriented economists’ and the insensitivity of human beings to the environment have left us facing a great disaster today. Increasing carbon emissions and pollution have created the greenhouse effect, causing global warming and climate change crisis. The global warming and climate change became the major crisis that threatens the existence of all the life on the planet. Sustainable development struggles to fight with this crisis. The fight against the crisis directs us to the green economy alternative, which develops the understanding of green management, allows the efficient use of resources in production, and prefers social responsibility and low carbon emissions. Efforts should be made at all levels in all areas against the crisis. The largest share falls on businesses in this fight. Businesses also operate according to the countries they are affiliated with. The government policies in which the Businesses operating will guide businesses. It is expected to see that each country takes measures according to its development level and according to the international organizations to which they are affiliated.
Are these measures enough?
Do countries implementing these measures get positive results?
Are all countries sensitive enough to this issue?
We will look for answers to these questions in our next articles.
