The One Winner in Today's Financial Crisis

The environment.

Yes! Have you ever thought about it? The ultimate winner in this financial crisis is the environment - but that also means that we are all winners. Sure, many of you have lots your pants and shirts and underwear - but for the majority of the people on this Earth, nothing has changed. That majority of people are still struggling for survival today as they were during the height of the boom. You may point out that there are people, like recyclers in China, who lost their life savings because of the financial crisis - but is economic prosperity really worth decimation of the Earth's environment?

The biggest polluters on this Earth are manufacturing, mining and shipping (cargo and people), and it follows that with a decline in the economy, these activities are reduced to a fraction of what they were before. What does that mean for pollution? Yes, it also means that pollution has been reduced by an equivalent amount.

As manufacturers reduce output, mining operations scale down, exporters export less (people turning to local products), consumers stop going out as much and people start tightening their belts - the environment gets a little more room to breathe. And so do we.