Sunday, April 6, 2008

Bhutan: Development with a Mind for the Environment

Thought this would be a good follow-up to today's Once Told review of Jeffrey Sachs' Common Wealth: Economics for a Crowded Planet.

Per Al Jazeera News:

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

It seems to me that aljeezra painted a prettier picture on this story than was necessary. Development with a mind for the enviornment? Ok well maybe the first dam but six more! Six more dams would have the capability of displacing historical roots and cultures and decimating native fish populations and other river dwelling creatures. Yes I understand that its great for Bhutan's economy and has made rural livlihoods moderatly better but those rivers would be on the brink, if not over, their ecological tipping point. Just like China it seems to be a fight between money and power versus the environment and human rights.

Nick.E.Jo said...

Though, they did paint a pretty picture on Bhutan's developmental progress. Aljeezra coverage of the region posses interesting questions regarding human development becoming more 'organic' in nature. No pun intended. They point to signs of a possible peaceful and sustainable coexistence.

Modern science has undeniably proven that our globalized human civilization i.e. our population and settlement infrastructure, is growing too fast. Can policy catch up with the untamed commercialized, energy hungry, humanized world?

To what extent do we carry on 'progressing' in the current manner? And to whom do we stay faithful... to our brothers and sisters, or to our earth.

Anonymous said...

Since Bhutan is still a developing country it would be interesting to see them build more infastructure devoted to nuclear, wind and solar. Granted what they are doing now is better than seeing them build 6 more coal fired power plants but, wouldnt it be interesting to see Bhutan become energy secure with renewables such as(nuclear, solar, wind). Possibly I've become jaded on China's progress with their three gorges dam since the development was so destructive to the natural environment and human populations. But where do you draw the line between renewable hydro power and unrenewable fossil fuels? What I'm trying to say here is that hydro power is always recieved warmly by many when truth be told it has many disastrous effects that are often looked over since its "renewable".