What Should We Do to Make Our Cities Sustainable?

Climate change poses a major threat to our daily lives, but there are certain geographical areas that are more exposed to the dangers of global warming. At the current rate of global greenhouse gas emissions, climate change will sink most of the Asian countries, including South Korea, due to rising ocean levels, and these negative externalities created by global warming will increase the cost to society more than the individuals. Thus, it will increase the loss of social welfare and lead us to greater inefficiency and misallocation of resources which will exacerbate the disparities between their wealth and the poor in regard to the LEDC and MEDC countries.

This occurs because the countries that lack economic stability are more likely to be exposed to an unsustainable cycle since it is more difficult for them to have an excess to use new technologies and expensive eco-friendly products to resolve the vicious cycle linear economy. This reveals that one of the popular rhetorical solutions which is increasing the demand and supply of renewable energy is more nuanced than simply breaking the current unattainable cycle of production. Furthermore, considering the economic difficulties for LEDC countries to stop using cheap plastic products, adopting an environmentally sustainable life is ted impractical and even idealistic. For instance, compared to the price of electric vehicles, there is not enough incentive for consumers to limit their purchases of petrol or for the companies to produce less of their harmful products. This shows that economic difficulties lead to a vicious cycle of overproducing and overconsumption. Thus, in order to reduce the negative externalities created by GHG emissions, the government adopting carbon taxes on products that produce GHG emissions can also help eliminate the negative externalities of fossil fuel use and increase fair competition in the energy market.

In fact, they are effective because they split accountability across the economy between consumers, who pay more for products that result in GHG emissions, and producers, who face reduced demand for their products due to higher prices and a loss of cash flow through payment of the tax. Moreover, it is important to innovate and adopt new technologies and restrict producers and consumers’ behavior in a socially desirable way such as “reduce, reuse, recycle” campaigns; however, for those who are in low income individuals, it is very difficult to achieve its goal. Furthermore, even if the consumers have the ability to afford renewable and eco-friendly products, it is very difficult for them to require a change in their lives because of the uneasiness to change their habitual lifestyles. Therefore, to actually manifest sustainability in real life, the government should provide incentives by subsidizing rather than limiting the individual's action in a certain way.