Over the first few weeks, we have discussed numerous topic areas relating to Sustainability. For example, the discussions of the Play Pumps case study, Climate Policy, and the Energy economics game all went over how society could be more efficient for the sake of the environment. The Play Pumps case study discussed how a company ended up restricting dozens of African villages' water supply, as they attempted to implement a solution to the water crisis with an inefficient, unmaintainable, and unrealistic product. This study revealed that not all inventions end up having positive effects on sustainability, and they can often even have adverse effects. Originally, this invention was agreed upon by the class to be cost efficient, and combining the needs of water and entertainment, while paying for itself through advertisement. However, because the play pumps had covered the previous hand pumps, numerous villages were stuck with a broken pump system and no water. Even worse, because of how expansive the project was, the company did not have the resources to fund and maintain the infrastructure they had already placed, as advertisement is inefficient in rural communities. Ultimately, this means that the issue of tapping the underground water in Africa cannot be solved so simply, as it is a complex issue that requires tedious discussion. Even further, policymakers need to consider the real-world effects of innovation, and must rigorously test their real-world applicability before implementing it into an actual society.
The next discussion we had was about Climate Policy. We had discussed that Seattle was planning to go through an expensive plan to reduce emissions by implementing policies such as light rail system, infrastructure recovery, vehicle taxes, and federal grants for sustainable technology. With the threat of global warming looming over the horizon, each city, state, and country needs to do their part towards delaying the point of no return. Seattle took this first step by dedicating a very expensive plan to doing so. The only potential drawback of this plan is the funding, which may have several chain effects. For example, overall taxes may have to increase, causing voter dissatisfaction, and thus politicians may delay actually implementing it. Even further, if a city is spending so much money on one plan, it may have to go through austerity measures and cut other vital programs for citizens. Ultimately, the fight for climate change is a necessary, yet expensive one, and policymakers need to find the best way to make it cost and environmentally efficient.
The third discussion we had was with the Energy economics game. We had set up a game where there were a certain amount of utility companies, and a certain amount of energy companies that all had a different source of energy that they produced. What was most notable in this game, was that utilities almost immediately had gone for the source of energy that cost the least, despite its environmental harms. Furthermore, renewable sources of energy are expensive, and thus creating a price for profit is quite difficult, especially with the competition of cheap sources such as natural gas and coal. Ultimately, some utilities did come to the conclusion that renewable energy is far more sustainable and better for the environment, so some did purchase renewables. But the issue of cost for renewables appears to be the only issue towards converting towards green energy. Thus, policymakers need to improve the funding towards green innovation, to make sure renewable energy is far more cost efficient.
The final topic was the analysis of Ghana, and its potency for environmentally sustainable initiatives, and its positive impacts on the country. With West Africa becoming one of the fastest growing regions in the world, the demand for energy and economic opportunities exponentially increases with it. More specifically, wealth inequality is incredibly rampant in the region, and sustainable energy initiatives offer methods to solve all the issues listed above. The specific advantage of converting to sustainable energy now, is that it sets the foundation of energy dependence to be green, opposed to a situation like the United States, where the Industrial Revolution made the country require coal even to this day. By offering methods to provide the demand of energy, without worrying about running out of resources or emissions, Ghana can thrive with sustainable energy initiatives. Thus, policymakers need to incorporate deals with private companies or first world countries to implement green energy, and then tackle on the issue of debt in the long term.
Link to the Ghana study: Sharma_N.pdf (utexas.edu)