The price of progress

This text is about two different perspectives on the development of human society and human interference in nature.

Some people think that the costs of growth and development are already too high and the future is bleak. Traffic threatens to choke all our cities and air pollution threatens the ait that we breathe. Unless we do something, the world will be impossible to live in. So we need to re-think our whole way of life and started to be more considerate towards nature.

On the other hand many people think that development is essential. Unless there is growth and development, the standard of living cannot rise. Providing that development is controlled, it can do no harm. Now we are making progress on issues such as pollution and there are more and more national parks to protect nature. Providing that we work within the system, we will win.

In my opinion the greatest danger which threatens our civilization is the pollution of water, nature, of the air and of the environment. Our neighbourhood is often so filled with stores and other buildings that scarcely a few square metres are left for a peace of greenery. Within the cities are factories, whose high chimneys incessantly churn out sulphur dioxide and other dioxides fumes that pollute the environment, and not just locally. Winds carry the polluted air to places many kilometres away.  These poisonous substances are not only produced by factories, but as mentioned by traffic as well.  But today many laws that restrict the production of emissions is issued.