IB ESS HL LENS: ENVIRONMENTAL ECONOMICS

Which of the following is not true about the impact of exponential economic growth on social and environmental sustainability?

• Increased economic growth means a more equal distribution of wealth and resources.

• Increased economic growth means increased incomes that allow people to meet their needs comfortably. 

• Increased economic growth means increased business incomes that allow for technological developments for environmental issues.

• Increased economic growth means increased incomes that allow for higher tax revenues that can be used to address environmental issues. 

Environmental (mainstream) economics refers to the social and environmental impacts of economic activity as:

• polluter pays principle

• greenwashing

• market failure

• externalities

True or false? 
Environmental economics assesses the loss of crop productivity due to ozone layer depletion by evaluating economic impacts, externalities, and the costs and benefits of different policies or strategies to mitigate the problem.

• False

• True

Calculate the value of what the polluter must pay annually in the example below.

A factory releases 1,000 kg of waste per month into a nearby lake. The cost of clean-up of the pollutant is $7.2 per kilogram. In addition to removing the pollutant, the lake needs to be cleaned up at a cost of $1,500 per square kilometre. The total area of the lake is 10 square kilometres.

• 101400

• 22200

• 15000

• 266400

Identify the missing word in the blank block in the economy model below.