The Truth about the EnvironmentFor many environmentalists, the world seems to be getting w

The Truth about the Environment

For many environmentalists, the world seems to be getting worse. They have developed a hit-list of our main fears: that natural resources are running out; that the population is ever growing, leaving less and less to eat; that species are becoming extinct in vast numbers, and that the planet's air and water are becoming ever more polluted.

But a quick look at the facts shows a different picture. First, energy and other natural resources have become more abundant, not less so, since the book The Limits to Growth was published in 1972 by a group of scientists. Second, more food is now produced per head of the world's population than at any time in history. Fewer people are starving. Third, although species are indeed becoming extinct, only about 0.7% of them are expected to disappear in the next 50 years, not 25-50%, as has so often been predicted. And finally, most forms of environmental pollution either appear to have been exaggerated, or are temporary-associated with the early phases of industrialisation and therefore best cured not by restricting economic growth, but by accelerating it. One form. of pollution—the release of greenhouse gases that causes global warming—does appear to be a phenomenon that is going to extend well into our future, but its total impact is unlikely to pose a devastating problem.

Yet opinion polls suggest that many people nurture the belief that environmental standards are declining and many factors seem to cause this disjunction between perception and reality.