The capitalist point of view is based on reaching economic milestones with the purpose of eradicating world poverty. These followers preach activities that involve any form of progress, be it technological advancements, more economical supply chains or cheaper manufacture that reduce local cost of living and allow people to live within their means. These intentions are truly commendable, however, the practice doesn’t align with the objective as in the pursuit of reaching an economic standard, many laws of sustainability are being neglected and humankind is put in danger. Indeed, non-existence of proper regulation about sustainable growth takes a toll on the environment and people, amounting to a setback of what had been priorly achieved.
On the other hand, many believe growth should be purposely restrained if it wasn’t able to be managed in a sustainable way. This idea is based on the need to curb the detrimental effects of capitalism on the environment because the increase of our footprint in nature results in significant biodiversity loss and contamination of valuable natural resources such as air and water. Coincidentally, humans are the ones who end up being endangered the most, therefore, it would be sensible to address these current affairs instead of postponing problems that will eventually collapse into tragedies in the future. A great first-step would be analysing supply processes and carrying out research on how to reduce the impact of the most contaminating steps.
In conclusion, despite development and innovation lead to lower prices and a more economical cost of living, its advantages are negatively counterbalanced by its implications on the environment. The way to proceed is ensuring the application of methods that are friendly to nature as we will also benefit from this.