The Ethics
February 7, 2020
There are a lot of things to take into consideration when deciding what is “right” or “wrong”. Do we give up the environmental safety of future generations for the sake of boosting the economy? Or do we abandon the people of Beaver County and watch as their community slowly crumbles away?
Debra Smit of the environmental collaborative Project Breathe says that the natural gas in this region will last the plant for about 50 years. And then what? We’re still recovering from what the coal industry did to us. 50 years for over a century of environmental rehab.
But maybe those 50 years will be exactly what the region needs to pull itself out of its economic downturn. As the economy betters perhaps the living standards and the quality of education will go up. And maybe those 50 years will become the perfect window to lead Beaver County’s future away from the old industrial practices and towards the science and technology boom that seems to never end. After all, that’s what happened in Pittsburgh right?
So is the possibility of an economic upturn worth risking the health and lives of future generations? Those 50 years might be enough to change Beaver County’s future, but by then it may be too late to change ours.
As climate change becomes an increasingly urgent topic, situations like this will continue to appear. And based on our decisions, we could either make or break our future. So I’ll ask this one more time. Climate or Citizen?
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