The environmental crisis in Asia

Abstract

Technological success - ecological failure The environmental crisis in Asia stems largely from poverty which is the major cause of the destruction of biological resources on which life depends forests, grasslands, croplands, fisheries. It is exacerbated by efforts to industrialize which are in themselves attempts to alleviate poverty that pollute the environment - air, land and water. The irony is that as we introduce modern technology from the west for the purpose of improving human conditions in Asia, we in fact, intensify the severity of the environmental crisis engulfing us today. The reason, as the industrial countries have discovered to their sorrow, is that their new technology may be economically more productive, but it certainly is ecologically counter-productive too. In short, in the words of Barry Commoner, the technological successes responsible for progress in the industrialized countries are indeed ecological failures. Common examples of these are the motor vehicles and power plants which are among the excellent models of the modern polluters that have been transplanted to Asian shores.