Write an essay of about 350 words to express your opinion on the following statement: “Economic development cannot be promoted in parallel with environmental preservation.”

The last year decades have been witnessing increasingly serious environmental issues which, according to many people, are the minus side of economic growth. These people suppose that developing the economy and environmental protection are two processes unable to occur simultaneously. From my perspective, I partly agree with this point of view.

On the one hand, fast economic growth may conflict with efforts to clean up the environment for several harmful impacts it has on the nature. It is an undeniable fact that manufacturing industry plays an important role in the economy. Promoting the economy; therefore, certainly goes along with boosting mass production, which means that there is greater demand for materials and energy to generate machines. These industrial activities indirectly put a pressure on the natural resources. In addition to a potential risk of resource depletion, they also take the responsibility for all types of pollution because of the fact that industrial wastes, including solid and liquid forms as well as greenhouse gases, have contaminated a large proportion of land, water supplies and the atmosphere. Further and even more importantly, stimulating economic development is associated with agriculture enhancement. However, it can be observed from most underdeveloped countries that unproductive cultivation is likely to involve the matter of land exploitation, with its far-reaching effects including deforestation, habitat destruction and soil erosion.

On the other hand, economic promotion can be parallel with environmental preservation for two major reasons. The first one is that developed economy provides more funds for resolving environmental problems. It is obvious that the faster the economy grows, the larger sum from state budget will be invested in environmental conservation programs. The second reason is that in the economic structure, there are other industries that are not only eco-friendly but also bring about huge profits, such as tourism, also called smokeless industry. Another example worth considering is harnessing clean energy, which are both contributing a considerable profit to the nation and beneficial to handling a multitude of issues associated with fossil fuels like natural exhaustion and global warming.

In conclusion, I would like to reaffirm my position that whether enhancing economic growth is a difficulty or a sustainable solution towards environmental preservation depends much on government’s policies rather than internal factors as many people believe.