Janus

You may argue there exists a possible balance between environment protection and prosper in economy.

On that, I would say the line is not fine – it is ignis fatuus. On a superficial look, yes, we could be careful and pay attention to the effect on our environment while developing the economy. However, as stated by the Second Law of Thermodynamics, all processes would result in increase in entropy (or, in layman’s term, the degree of disorder), and all economic activity would inevitably result in cost to the environment.

(By the way, although human are political animals, all human activities are economic ones.)

Don’t you see the point? Take paper cups and plastic forks from our fast food stores as an example. True, they end up in the trash after being used once – and are about to fill up our country parks in the near future. However, are fine china cups and silver forks more friendly to our environment?

Yes, as long as you do not wash it with soap and detergents and water after using.

Similarly, does it cause less air pollution by abandoning coals and petroleum and use hydro-electricity? Let’s consider the dams north to Yunnan.

Alas, I am not saying we should forget our environment. There are genuine situations when we damage the Earth without doing any benefit (for example, turning on the light when nobody is in the room). However, there are far many more scenarios where people see just one face of Janus.

They are the ones outside the door, of course.