In a recent New York Times magazine op-ed, the internationally-based author reflects on her family’s search for a city with safe air. From Mexico City to Beijing to Shanghai, the implications of economic development are as clear as the smog in the air.
How does a country balance the need for economic progress with the health implications that stem from industrialization? How can a developing country justify investing even more money into cleaner and perhaps more expensive technologies? The author says these common questions are not necessarily the best framing, given that “researchers are finding that pollution can be an even bigger drag on growth over the long term. It not only damages a country’s image and hurts its ability to attract talent, tourists, and investors; air pollution also exacts heavy losses in health expenditures, labor losses, agricultural activity, and premature deaths.”
Practice Greenhealth and Health Care Without Harm take the long view, and have opted for a broader, more realistic view of progress and a more robust definition of ‘true cost” that does not leave out health, the environment, and a sustainable future.
[Source: The New York Times]