Environmental Awareness, a Product of Economic Growth

According to the American psychologist Abraham Maslow, human needs consist of five stages. This is the so-called “hierarchy of needs” theory.

The first to emerge is the “physiological need” for clothing, food, and shelter. If water, food, breathing, excretion, sleep, and sexual activity are not fulfilled, human survival itself becomes impossible.

Next comes the “need for safety.” The need for safety is the fundamental human desire to seek protection from dangers such as accidents, disease, natural disasters, and war. Since environmental pollution is also a factor that threatens human safety, the desire for a clean environment would likewise fall under the need for safety.

In any society, once people become prosperous enough to make a living, their desire for a clean environment and safe public order is bound to erupt. That is why the streets of wealthy countries and wealthy cities are generally clean. Even within the same country and the same city, the rich live in cleaner and safer areas. The level of wealth a society possesses determines the level of environment that society enjoys.

Today, Europe may be said to be the region where Maslow’s need for safety has manifested itself at the national level, beyond the individual. Along with North America, Europe is one of the wealthiest regions in the world, where industrialization has progressed the furthest. By the 1960s and 1970s, Europe had experienced two world wars, yet had fully escaped the wounds left by them and built a highly prosperous society.

As a result, Europeans’ desire for a clean residential environment, urban environment, and natural environment also grew steadily. In that sense, it is highly suggestive that Greenpeace was founded in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, in 1971, and that the Green Party in Germany was founded in 1979.

Although I am citing Europe as an example, the case of Korea is in fact similar. Even the Korean Federation for Environmental Movement, said to be the country’s largest environmental organization, was launched only in 1993, after Korea’s economic growth had achieved a certain degree of success.

The clean environment and living spaces enjoyed by citizens of advanced countries today are not the product of environmental campaigns waged by environmentalists. The clean environment of advanced countries is the product of successful economic growth, and remarkably, the environmental movement itself is also a result of economic growth. The clear evidence is that environmental movements are scarcely seen in underdeveloped countries and become active only after those countries have grown into advanced economies.

These days, pollutants from China are drifting over and negatively affecting Korea’s atmosphere. A substantial portion of the recent causes of our air pollution, including fine dust, lies in China. Even so, we are not in a position to simply blame China. Our citizens’ concern about air pollution is great. The situation calls for active efforts to reduce fine dust.

Recently, Beijing’s air quality is said to be gradually improving. This is probably the result of efforts at the government level, as it is the heart of powerful political authority. China’s coastal cities, too, are likely to become progressively cleaner, reflecting the fruits of economic growth.

To improve the environment of developing countries, economic growth is needed above all else. In the early stages of economic growth, there is a temporary increase in environmental pollutants. But industrialization and economic growth do not destroy the environment. In the long run, they are instead the path to actively protecting it.

Sung-no Choi

President, Center for Free Enterprise (CFE)

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Original title: 환경보호 의식, 경제성장 산물

Author: Sung-no Choi

Date: 2018-04-08

Source: https://www.cfe.org/bbs/bbsDetail.php?cid=press&pn=26&idx=10957