Sustainability - A Matter of Choice

WHO PAYS THE COST?



Natural capital, exploited by developmental activities worldwide, is regarded as free. There is no monetary price put on the degradation of the air, water, or land, so it is used and abused at will. We as consumers do not pay directly for this degradation, incurred in the manufacture of products we buy and discard carelessly.

For example, we use paper at an enormous rate. It is the largest component of municipal solid waste in most industrialized countries, and in the US it constitutes more than a third of it. Nobody cares about this waste because we don't see it being dumped in huge landfills, and when we do see forests being cut down, we don't make the connection with consumption. Today, people in the North are beginning to demand that forests be saved. But many countries have no facilities to recycle paper, and even those which do continue to destroy forests to supply the demand for paper.

In a global economy, the true costs of development are obscured. Yet consumption and trading practices worldwide contribute directly to unsustainable use of resources.



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Copyright 1996, The World Wide Fund For Nature