Ch. 1 - Scarce Resource and Opportunity Cost

http://www.shanghaidaily.com/sp/article/2009/200908/20090829/article_412146.htm#explore

Summary
The article reports on the expansion of greenland in Shanghai despite limited space. The densely populated Shanghai, with a population nearing 19million, increased the amount of greenland by 400 times since 1949. Sixty years ago, there was only 86 hectares of greenland in Shanghai, but last year, 34,256 hectares of greenland was measured, covering 38 percent of the city. Shanghai plans to add another 1,190 hectares of greenland and to renovate 54 old parks this year. Overpopulation and limited land, a major problem in Shanghai, hinders the further development of greenland. Although population density is a setback, the government encourages growth of green coverage throughout the city. Roof gardening, balcony greening, and bridge greening are possible ways to increase green coverage, bringing many environmental benefits.

Connections
I believe the connection of this article to our text is scarcity. Land is a non-renewable resource and has a definite “amount”; therefore it is a scarce resource. Making choices about how to utilize the land is very important, especially in a place with high population density. In the article, the Shanghai government used 38% of the city to build greenland and parks, a very significant figure in such a population dense area. There is a direct cost and opportunity cost involved in building greenland. The direct cost is the expense for building greenland and renovating parks. The opportunity cost is sacrificing the land that could be used to ease the problem of high population density.

Reflections
I believe that Shanghai had made a great choice in promoting environmentalism. Humans have been polluting the Earth since the Industrial Revolution, so protecting the environment is the natural thing to do. The government could make money by selling the land to land developers, and many apartments could be built on the 34,000 hectares of land to alleviate the high population density. Instead, Shanghai increased the amount of green coverage throughout the city despite limited land resource. The Shanghai government is sacrificing a lot to become greener. I believe environmentalism is very important because humans can only survive because Earth offers us so many resources. We must maintain the mutual relationship between humans and Earth.