The Mekong River Basin is among the largest river ecosystems in Asia, providing goods and services (fishing, agriculture, etc.) for hundreds of millions of people across 6 countries. When I was studying in Vietnam for a semester, the hot topic for biological science was the proposal, mainly by the Chinese Government, to build a few hundred hydropower dams on the river. You can look up other various studies, but here's a good one:
https://www.pnas.org/content/109/15/5609.short
Essentially, putting dams on the river is going to drastically change the entire region, removing flood plains, killing fish species, etc.
Now what's the point? Money. Hydroelectric dams generate power which the government turns into profit by utilizing and selling the product of that power. Here's the thing, hydro dams are like hookers, they can put out for a good 20 to 30 years, but they tendto get crusty and silt up after that time. On the Mekong, which you can think of like a pimp with a lot of connections and deep pockets, the dams might last a bit longer. 40-50 years. After that you get an ecosystem which is essentially irrevocably damaged, and a bunch of dead hookers. This seems like a terrible business idea, right? Well no, because it's all about short term profit. Sure, you might be displacing huge sections of your population and killing a river system that's been there for millions of years, but you get a good amount of money before that. In economics, especially with capitalism, the environment is seen as something that can be exploited for profit. Sustainability isn't really part of it. My question is this, how do we use the environment in a way that is both sustainable and profitable? Or is that even something worth doing? You get these "activists"going out there and proclaiming save the trees and all that, but no one really cares. Yes, the Mekong provides food and water for millions of people, but that's not profitable. I for one like the idea of sustainability and biodiversity, the earth would be boring without it. But I cant think of a way to motivate people to care, without also finding a way to also generate profit from the environment, while sustaining it. I had the idea of defining water and forests and all that as a public service, but again I dont see a way to pull a few million bucks out of that. Let me know if I'm just a faggot for wanting to preserve the environment, or if you have any ideas that might work.
https://www.pnas.org/content/109/15/5609.short
Essentially, putting dams on the river is going to drastically change the entire region, removing flood plains, killing fish species, etc.
Now what's the point? Money. Hydroelectric dams generate power which the government turns into profit by utilizing and selling the product of that power. Here's the thing, hydro dams are like hookers, they can put out for a good 20 to 30 years, but they tendto get crusty and silt up after that time. On the Mekong, which you can think of like a pimp with a lot of connections and deep pockets, the dams might last a bit longer. 40-50 years. After that you get an ecosystem which is essentially irrevocably damaged, and a bunch of dead hookers. This seems like a terrible business idea, right? Well no, because it's all about short term profit. Sure, you might be displacing huge sections of your population and killing a river system that's been there for millions of years, but you get a good amount of money before that. In economics, especially with capitalism, the environment is seen as something that can be exploited for profit. Sustainability isn't really part of it. My question is this, how do we use the environment in a way that is both sustainable and profitable? Or is that even something worth doing? You get these "activists"going out there and proclaiming save the trees and all that, but no one really cares. Yes, the Mekong provides food and water for millions of people, but that's not profitable. I for one like the idea of sustainability and biodiversity, the earth would be boring without it. But I cant think of a way to motivate people to care, without also finding a way to also generate profit from the environment, while sustaining it. I had the idea of defining water and forests and all that as a public service, but again I dont see a way to pull a few million bucks out of that. Let me know if I'm just a faggot for wanting to preserve the environment, or if you have any ideas that might work.
